Unstable
by Jungle Gym Junkie
Summary: Where did you have in mind' with that simple sentence, she surrendered all that she held dear... again. It was obvious that she would do anything for Yoruichi. But would Yoruichi be so quick as to return the favor? Yuri. YoruxSoi
1. The Request

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The Request

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"Do you know what I'm doing right now?" She purred into the receiver of her sleek cell phone. "I'm sure you do. God, I love how exclusive this neighborhood is! I mean, where else can you walk around naked in a community pool?" She dragged a polished fingernail across her bare hip, scratching at the discoloration that used to be there. "I would say it's for the sake of my tan line-less body, but that wouldn't be completely true would it?" Her grin spread and her dimple deepened as she heard the breath on the other end of the line quicken, but still refusing to speak. "I know your there. I can hear you blushing."

"Not. _Now_. Yoruichi." The aggravated voice growled at her. "In fact, not ever. I can't keep doing this. I _won't_ keep doing this. Jesus, Yoruichi! I thought I told you to stop calling me here. Christ! Do you know how much trouble I can get in for having personal calls here? Like you even care. Have you even grasped the fact yet that I no longer wish to see you. Ever. I just—ugh!" A soft thud broke her words and there was a sudden, comfortable—at least to Yoruichi—silence. Yoruichi could see the slumped figure now, slamming their forehead on their overcrowded desk, rustling papers, assaulting pens, she couldn't help but giggle. "Why do you do this to me" The other woman moaned under her breath. Yoruichi couldn't tell if she was asking herself, or quizzing her own brain with this question, either way, Yoruichi knew the answer, in fact she had told the called millions of times before why she tortured her like this.

Yoruichi, being who she was, ignored the distressed requests and continued, listening carefully to the objects move on the other side of the line. She was occupying herself, distraction that came naturally. This was a good sign. Yoruichi was truly disturbing her, getting to her, striking her in the place where she had wanted to hit so many times before. Yoruichi knew how to play her, manipulate her, it was how she passed the time. "Don't you remember that time I dragged you here? When all you wanted to do was 'read' that day? You were so reluctant. But I won, didn't I?" She stepped slowly to the pool's ledge and slipped her bronzed legs in, picturing her legs entwined with Soi's once more. Yoruichi sighed, remembering her lover's skin glistening in the sheer sunlight, the only covering being the water that dripped from her and stained the margins of her favorite novel. She slipped from the ledge of the pool and submerged her lower half that seemed to burn out of control, gasping as the cold water shocked her. "What are you doing tonight, Soi? I must see you."

"Have you been listening? This whole time—" Soi stopped abruptly before dropping her raised voice back to a whisper. Her boss must have walked by her office, observing his territory, taking false control over the office drones. "This whole time I've been telling you… I don't even know why I try with you. No, Yoruichi. I will not see you tonight… or any other night, for that matter. Please stop calling me! Especially at work. God! You are the most annoying thing in my life!" There was a sharp pop—Soi's phone being slammed to its deck—before the line went dead and Yoruichi's ear filled with the garbled sound of the dead connection.

Her taunting grin did not break—though it probably should have—in fact, she seemed deeply amused with herself. Yoruichi did not move her arm after she had been disconnected, she merely waited for her game to finish. Feet kicking and spraying the water across the rippling landscape, she fidgeted like an excited child as she whispered to herself: _Three… Two… O—_

Right on cue, the phone buzzed in her curled and manicured hand. She had half a mind now to ignore Soi's call, to anger her further so her teasing would be even more effective, though she had been enough of a bitch for one day. _If only I knew how to make it up to her_, she laughed to herself. Finger already poised above the "answer" button, she gathered herself to remain as professional as she could then pressed the phone to her ear once more as she filled with pride. Not making a sound, she prepared to get her way, as she did every other day, with Soi.

"Where did you have in mind?" Soi sighed heavily, clearly defeated once again.

**A/N: Well... what do you think. this is a story I have been working on in fictionpress and realised it worked perfectly for one of the sexiest couples in the yuri loving world. Please review. If im brave enough Ill post another chapter if you guys want. Much longer than this of course.**


	2. The Reaction

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The Reaction

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The muscles bunched under the pale and toned skin of her arm trembled with irritation and ire as she snapped the thin pencil in half with merely her thumb. Tossing the cheap black phone back onto its receiver, Soi nearly failed to restrain the urge to tear down the four, felt covered, grey walls that enclosed her.

_Cigarette_, she thought urgently like a surgeon listening off the tools he needed to save an innocent life. _Now._

The un-oiled joints groaned from underneath her as she swiveled herself towards the thin opening in her cubicle. It wasn't often those wheels moved, and when they did, they burst through the aggravating and anything but comfortable silence that swam through the office like a life-threatening plague. She lived the life of a workaholic; she was surprised that her fingers didn't mold to the worn, wordless keys of her out dated computer or if the headset that had set a painful bruise on her ear didn't cement itself there.

Ripping the Marlboro's and Zippo from the pathetically tidy drawer of her desk, she took off, nearly running, to the back door. She barely had time to see Koji before she found herself becoming friendly like a horny school boy would be to his prom date with his hard—and a rather rough landing pad— pecks.

"Whoa, beautiful. Where you off to?" Koji practically squealed as he lifted her like a doll from his chest and smoothed her short hair. He glanced down at what she was clutching and flipped his chin length blond hair in near disgust. "Those things will kill you, darling. And not in a clean way either." He sighed heavily, looking Soi over, making her more and more uncomfortable by the second. "Let's go have one, shall we?" The corner of Soi's thin lips twitched up before they ran, shushing each other playfully as they tripped other their feet, the walls, and flat surfaces.

"Ugh. But you know a man, they think with their head 24-fucking-7. And not the one on their shoulders, not that it's useful anyway. It's in the wiring I think. Is there not one decent man out here?" Koji exhaled a great puff of smoke in to the sky, his hand curled elegantly around the stubby cancer stick to the left of his ear.

"No, Ko-Ko. There isn't" Soi eyed him carefully until he got the joke before he scoffed and flipped his hair in the other direction as she laughed at his feminism. "And no, I don't know men, which is why I don't prefer them." She took a long, nearly painful drag from her cigarette before tossing it into one of the over-stuffed smoke catchers that lined the outside of the building. "Unlike other people I know." She murmured under her breath, positive that he could not hear her; but when was the last thing she was positive about anyway?

"Oh, ho, now. I know that tone. She called you again, didn't she?" Soi rolled her bright, glowing, and rather pissed off eyes at him as she leaned against the brick next to him and lit up another.

"That bad, huh?" He winced. They were practically mirror images of each other; opposite arms across their flat stomachs holding their elbow where they held the filter within sucking distance and one foot planted against the wall behind them. As if they had planned it, they pulled a crooked hand through their short dirty blond boyish hair. "Damn you _are_ pissed!" Koji giggled. "I can feel your blood boiling. Away with you!" He pushed her playfully away. "It's too hot to be fuming!"

Soi let only a smirk leave its temporary imprint on her face before she zoned out, staring off into the tar that rippled as water would… like water in a community pool, deserted of all the lethargic occupants of the apartments and the workaholics… leaving only one person to go skinny dipping. She shook her head, trying to rid the image from her head by sheer force of will, but it had been imprinted to the back of her eyelids. She could not rest without thinking of the smooth, dark skin, the frighteningly dangerous golden eyes, and that voice… the one that had serenaded her millions of times before, the same voice that sparked so many fights and so many tearful embraces. Soi shook her head again, more violently this time, looking for a distraction, like nausea, anything to divert her thoughts.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, baby girl. Whoa!" Koji pressed his massive hands on either side of Soi's head and stopped the flailing of black strands and two long braids behaving as whips. "You'll hurt someone doing that." He eyed her closely like he did as he disapproved of her smoking before he eased her tense body back against the wall. She pushed his hands away from her, being far from harsh, but still a little irritated.

"Stop being a big brother, Ko." She tousled her hair before taking another long drag and puffing the smoke deliberately in Koji's face. "Big sister suits you better." He opened his mouth to protest, but that stricken look of reject slowly transformed into a sense of pride or satisfaction. Soi laughed once and hard at him, surrogate blood since before she had ever met Yoruichi. He had watched her go insane, find inner peace, loose it, find it once more, and make one false promise and threat after another. Koji was fully aware of the affect Yoruichi had on Soi, even if Soi hadn't come to her senses.

"Why do you love her?" He asked once the flaming embers within the company rolled paper had long since been blown out and they both rest in silence, waiting for the end of their fifteen minutes so they could return to the monotonous way of life that lay just beyond the doors behind them. Her ears perked and her eyes sparked bright and furious to the point Koji feared for his unbroken bones and his bruise-less skin.

"I never said I love her." Her words held warning, poison, and sheer hatred. Through all of the emotions she had been forced to endure, one after the other, the burning hatred she had expressed was nothing compared to the short fuse that burned before him. He had never seen her eyes like this, even when Yoruichi had to break the news to her the first time. This was the kind of hate that piggybacked that of pain. It was short lived, but extremely intense. Instead of pressing the issue and risking a crushed nose, Koji put up his hands in mock surrender.

"Calm, Fire Starter! I do not wish to be burned alive." He nudged her, desperately trying to make her laugh, or even smirk, but it was a lost cause. He had messed with her most personal crisis: Yoruichi Shihouin, a mistake he would be sure to never make again. But she stay immobile, made of brick, blending into her background and letting all conflicting emotions battle within her, letting them use her flesh, her blood as the battle ground, her soul as the ammunition. She was Sweden. Soi, all throughout her life, had refused to take a side within her; she went with whatever anyone told her. With Yoruichi, she felt as if she were free, that nothing mattered, that life was an eternal summer vacation to be burned up and wasted in whatever way the child-like occupants saw fit. Chuckling to herself, or rather _at_ herself and what she had allowed herself to be turned into, she looked at Koji, somewhat surprised that he was still there. A crooked smile was pasted poorly over a face of mock fear, his brow cocked in worry.

"Therapy: Invest. Maybe they will give you meds… or a jacket. You like hugging yourself right?" To avoid the flying fists, he ducked back into the door of the dreaded office, blew a raspberry against the thick glass of the door, and ran off to his tiny cubicle where his free and fun loving attitude would drop from his personality and be replaced with numbers and guidelines for the next four hours.

She laughed again; this time from deep within, the laugh shook her body and brought tears to her eyes. Everything she had felt once she saw Yoruichi's phone number flash on her caller ID to the point where she had set a date for later that night came bellowing out. In this crazy stage of euphoria, every ounce of pain she had felt for herself, for Yoruichi, for Koji, for the sad little abused puppy dogs on the commercials with Sarah McLachlan playing in the background flushed out of her system, detoxing her soul, as it spilled onto the concrete.

_He might be right_. She pushed herself through the clear doors of her daily hell. Though, any other day, she would be lifeless, thoughtless, and essentially useless for anything other than answering phones and balancing sales of tasteless wardrobes and tacky purses, she evaluated her sanity. Fingers hit buttons, numbers lit up, the world shrunk and grew in the elevator: daily miracles in which she had begun to unconsciously ignore. Was she truly losing her mind for Yoruichi? Was Yoruichi worth her mind, her soul, even… possibly… her—

"No. I. Do. Not. L… She's Yoruichi. She's… a child, a friend… a fuck-buddy, nothing more… nothing more… nothing more." She mumbled to herself as she stepped out on her floor.

"Really? Nothing more, eh?" The voice jarred Soi, knocking her out of her own reality and plummeting her flailing person into everyone else's. It was that of Ava Meadows, the secretary. Seeing the man that worked only a few feet from Soi every day, she had been trying to get Soi in the sack ever since she found out she liked to "rock the rainbow". She was a sleaze; a hot sleaze and she knew it; even was proud of the fact, which is possibly the most dangerous thing to have around a weak-willed person.

"Talking to yourself again, are we?" Ava asked playfully, tossing her pen over her shoulder while rolling her wad of gum around in her mouth.

_God knows what's been in there,_ Soi snickered to herself as she tried to pass the vulture that was perched, for some reason she had not come to realize, so close to the only escape on the floor. _Probably every hot dog in this office, well... excluding Koji. Maybe even a few peaches too..._

A clawed talon reached out and swooped up the crook of Soi's arm as she attempt to make a break for it. "Now where is the fire, Sweetcheeks?" Ava purred—or growled, Soi couldn't decide—as she pulled Soi closer to her. Once again, Soi caught herself looking Ava over, assessing the decisions other than what Yoruichi made for her. Her lover's game was played with such precision, everything that happened was intentional, every scream, every sudden burst of anger had been deviously depicted the night before. _Ava_, Soi had repeated to herself many lonely nights before once Yoruichi had left her sights, _could be my secret weapon. A factor that she wasn't expecting._

Ava, having the mindset of a teenager, never really grew out of the style, though her clothes told a different story. While Soi stood across from her in plain black jeans and a pink and white stripped button down, Ava sat, casually displaying her bra-less cleavage with a very distasteful, plunging V-neck, as she worked her tongue around the crude, indefinable pink wad. Her skirts, as if they were not short enough to make you hate the female form for a split hour, was always hiked up in the back, especially when she stalked out of the boss' office.

"I'm just going to check if there is a fire in my desk." She smiled politely at the horny single mother of three bastard children before yanking her arm away from Ava's unwelcome hold, never too soon. "Or to see how hard it would be to start one." Soi shivered as she slumped back to her desk, feeling the venomous eyes of The Slut on her ass as she scurried out of sight. The unmistakable gust of blond ducked behind a chin-level felt wall, obviously observing the attack and, as Soi passed, got a sticky note slapped on her ass followed by a girlish giggle she could have mistaken for a fourth grader. As she sat at her desk, already twenty times happier than she was two seconds ago and a million times that nearly twenty minutes ago, she peeled the green glue from her bottom and read the note Koji had pinned to her.

_Crap! Now the crazy lady has AIDS. You think Devil Woman would be expecting that one?_

Smiling, she picked up the phone that had started ringing the second she sat. It was almost a miracle how Koji was on the same frequency as Soi, especially since she switched channels fifty two times a minute. He truly was the bigger sister Soi never had, something she had thought Yoruichi would be, but, inevitably, Soi grew, then Yoruichi became the younger sister, having Soi wait on her, hand and foot. From any other perspective, have it been happening to anybody else, Soi would have laughed for their sake as they slaved around for the one they supposedly loved, but were really two favors away from being thrown away with the thousands that had been used before. Regardless, if ignorance was bliss, why did Soi feel so pathetic and ill?

"Stop reading my mind, you loser." She laughed, expecting Koji to squeal and rattle off one of his trademark punch lines.

"Excuse me?" An ecclesiastic-like voice broke through the grumbling connection, frail, innocent, and sounding within minutes of dying… or praying.

"Oh, my apologies, Ma'am. It's these phones, so hard to transfer calls. Let me start over. Juniper and Holmes Life Insurance, this is Soi and how may I not insult you today?" This derived a chuckle from the clearly ill elder before she threw herself and Soi into a likely two hour conversation on how technology has drastically changed in the last two hundred years the bag had been alive. Just as she was about the scratch her own eyes out for something to do, Soi noticed the text box pop up in the window of her email. _Koji! Thank god_, Soi sighed inwardly.

Ko: I… didn't call you

Soi: Thanks for the warning. I just called Mother Teresa a loser.

Ko: rotflmao

Soi: what did you call me?

Ko: God, you ancient hag. Nvrm.

Soi: What's 'nvrm'?

Ko: _This user has signed off_

"Oh yes ma'am. I do hate how large the TV screens are…Yes, kids should read more…No, I have never heard of that author, ma'am…Oh, really…" The conversation never seemed to end. With years of experience and reluctant skill that she had absorbed with the stoned of all stoners and the master of all Yoruichi's, Soi slowly worked her way back towards the issue of Life Insurance, something that would be coming in the mail very very soon for this woman's family. "No, I don't think I'll be a good match for your nephew…No, no, ma'am, I understand. As soon as you remember what you called for, I'll be here…Yes, I promise…You too, ma'am." She scribbled "Shoot Me" on a paper football and nonchalantly tossed it over the wall that separated her and Koji. Seconds later, her head was mistaken for a large translucent backboard as a paper ball was pelted off the back of her head as if the buzzer was seconds from sounding and the last three points were the difference between being a winner and pathetic loser.

_NO! Yooooou gooot a daaaate toooniiight…_

"Don't remind me", she grumbled, but it was too late. Yoruichi's name was already teasing her tongue, her face on her lids, and the crippling need of nicotine was in her veins at the mere anticipation of seeing her again. What was happening to her? She used to be stronger than this… _used_ to be.

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_The night is deafening when the silence is listening and I'm down and my knees and I know that something is missing. Because the back of my mind is holding…_

The music that swam in the lavish penthouse seemed to drown out the anxiety in which kept Yoruichi close to the phone, one foot out the door. It was two hours till her long awaited date with her beloved Soi, whom she had not seen in weeks, much less touched. She desired to feel those long arms around her, those soft hands upon her, those dark eyes judging her, psychoanalyzing her, failing to figure her next move. Without Soi in her life, there was no frivolous joy, nearly nothing had purpose, and when it did, it was… boring. In her world of black and white cocktail parties and ass kissing, Soi was the only one that she could look down on, the only tool she had to break out of the ordinary and let her true colors shine, if only to one person.

Restless, Yoruichi ran around her overprized home, still neglecting to dawn clothes for the occasion, throwing every bit of visible clothing, magazine, particle of dust, and every discarded pair of panties into a room in which Soi would not be tempted to enter. Temptation, a favorite in Yoruichi's arsenal of assault weapons. If everything failed to cripple Soi, temptation always overtook her. Only a few times had Yoruichi been afraid of losing her, and the game, forever, but it didn't last long; Soi always came back around.

Her rich hair cascading halfway down her back cluing to her temples and was matted down the elegant curve of her spine. Though her teen days, where years behind her, her body still held the mold that any man or woman would give their life for. Her breasts, gracious and firm, held high on her chest as they did the day she met Soi. Her stomach, tight and flat and her skin darkened healthily from the sun and lack of occupation. She knew how she looked and how the people on the street stared at her shamelessly, which is why she took pride in crashing in Soi's arms, twirling, grinding, practically fucking her wherever they were. It drove Soi absolutely wild and that's what excited Yoruichi the most.

When the phone buzzed, it was already in Yoruichi's hand as she fixed her soaked hair, still wet from her shower as if Soi could see her. Clearing her throat, she spoke, sweet and sultry. "Hello?"

"I am getting off work. I am going to go change first. Can you tell me where we are going so I can dress appropriately?" Soi's distorted voice requested. Yoruichi could tell she had been screaming. Whenever Soi got unbelievably frustrated, she would make her way to the closets, smallest, most isolated four walls she could find and scream until her face turned blue…or until she passed out. Just another quirk about Soi that drove Yoruichi absolutely berserk; just another reminder of how absolutely in control she was.

"Don't be nervous, love. Everything will be… fun tonight. Please trust me. I wouldn't let you down, darling." Yoruichi purred in a way that drove her "play thing" wild.

"I am not nervous; just… tired, I guess." The Play Thing mumbled into the receiver, clearly occupying her hands as she did during the previous phone call. There wasn't much, though, that she could use to escape. After all, she was driving and her only tickets that she ever received, Yoruichi was relaxing deviously in the seat next to her.

"No. You are. You don't use contractions whenever you're nervous." Her teasing tone dropped and was drenched with pity and rejection within seconds. "Do you not want to see me? I understand if you don't. I mean, who would after all I've done? I—I'm sorry Soi. It seems I have wasted your time." With mock insecurity, Yoruichi was inches away from the End Call button so she could count down the time it took Soi to call back and apologize for things… she's not quite sure she had done.

"No. No, Yoruichi. I… I am—I mean… I'm sorry. I do want to see you, it—it's all I have been thinking about. Well, that and cigarettes…" Yoruichi could practically hear the question marks popping up over her head, not knowing exactly what she meant or how far she had actually pushed Soi, but sure that she wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "I _have_ to change out of office clothes. Help me here." She pleaded as she punched the gas and went soaring down the road. Yoruichi winced as a passing car zipped by, sounding dangerously close, with a rather pissed off driver; she smiled.

"Well… who said you had to wear clothes? You can just come over here and—"

"No." Soi quickly interrupted, surprising the usually dominant and strict Yoruichi. "I've told you before. I won't me you there. Anywhere but there…" In her voice lay an undertone of desperation that Yoruichi had not heard for so many years. This wasn't a request; she was begging for mercy.

"Well… at least we're using contractions again. That's a good sign. Look, love. Anything you wear, you will be absolutely gorgeous. When I say we're going out, I mean we are going _out_, understand?" Soi remained silent, suppressing something that would likely show in her voice, flattery, embarrassment, realization, or even… arousal? "I can hear you blushing again." Yoruichi teased, listening to the short gusts of air that came with the cars that passed faster and faster.

"Where will I meet you?" Finally, she had heard a smile creep across her lover's face as she whispered, keeping the rondevu as confidential as possible. If there was one thing Soi hated more than Yoruichi, it was publicizing her personal life; something that Yoruichi took pride in, her own personal hobby.

"Where we first made love. Don't you remember? That night… those drinks… you just had your heart broken and—"

"Yeah! ...yeah I know where you mean. I—I remember." Soi's voice trembled as Yoruichi pictured her hands doing the same as her knuckles turned white, curled gruesomely around the shabby steering wheel.

"You have… and hour and fourteen minutes." Soi, Yoruichi was sure, was breaking almost every traffic law in the city of New York, face red, jaw muscles quivering from exhaustion, and teeth shining as they were ground together.

"Fine." She chuckled, never reluctant to heed to Yoruichi's will.

"I love you, Soi." With that the line went dead and Yoruichi laughed, thinking off all the time she had told Soi and how her face had contorted, not knowing what to feel. On more than one occasion, it was anger or distrust, but usually, it was of surprise and shock, something she thought she would never hear, though she was reminded of it almost every day.

"I'll make you say it. Better yet, tonight, I will make you scream it." She grabbed a string of priceless pearls that hung around a picture frame. Tossing it out of her way like a piece of unsightly garbage, she grabbed the frame that held a picture of both Soi and Yoruichi, casual friends at the time, in their square navy hats and matching robes, clutching a faux aged scroll. She stared sympathetically at their earlier—and frankly easier—years. Yoruichi's arms were around Soi, she had surprised her by creeping up behind her. The darkening red spilled across her cheeks and her steel eyes shone as they looked up to their assailant. She laughed at the memory before she ripped out the metal back from the silver tiffany and peeled a folded note from the back of their photo. Carefully and almost meticulously, she positioned and repositioned the paper football next to her keys that lay on the table in front of her.

"You _did_ say it once…"

**A/N: Well… I think I like it, but you guys be the judge. AT LEAST three comments and I'll write another chapter. Thank you to all who have read so far. Even the sallow number of hits is enough to boost my confidence enough to leave the story up. My main concern is that I don't have the characters calibrated to their original personalities, since this was a different story with different characters. Suggestions?**


	3. The Dance

The Dance

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Soi watched from across the room, too scared to be noticed or speak up, too bold to stand back and blend with the scenery of wasted businessmen hoping to get lucky behind the beaded curtains of the private rooms. Her jeans were riding low on her slim hips, the fingertips of the surrounding, horn-dogged drunks dipping in every chance they got as they danced out of beat with a song they had never heard before. Each one of them were clearly too old to be seen in a club like this. They only raised their half empty glasses and beer bottles above their empty heads, swaying their bodies with little grace to a rhythm known only to them. Burning Soi from within, threatening to steal away her sanity, a spark was ignited from the foreign hands that traveled over her lover's flawless skin; flesh that was only meant for her hands and for her eyes and for her tongue only.

Dark eyes, cutting through the poorly lit club stuck to her, though she was surrounded by both men and woman, more beautiful than Soi, she taunted her, bragged of Soi to the men that kept close lips to her ear as they grappled her hips while they grinded their heat against her. She, of course, put up little of a fight. The woman in front of her slung their hair as they turned to monitor the peace of meat her loose lips sang about, laughing as they turned back, asking if Yoruichi was serious when she told them who she was here with. Finally, Soi had enough of this game and turned her back to her lover; one of the worst defensive moves she could have played. This showed weakness for one, not to mention it would keep her mind racing, having her to look back twenty times a song, each time being greeted with the eyes of a soulless succubus that had the tightest grip on Soi's seemingly delicate soul, refusing ever to surrender control.

As soon as Soi's ass hit to stool, her forehead hit the bar. She felt someone approach her. At a bar, it wasn't rare, but she still denied the visitor any sort of polite recognition. Soi didn't even jerk when she felt the frail and somewhat familiar fingertips playing with one of her intricate braids.

"Hmm... well let's see. You are...sitting at the bar alone... I haven't seen you go dance all night or even crack a smile for that matter. And there is this frightening concentration of horny, sweaty... meat over in the corner, attempting to dance.... or gangbang, I'm not quite sure. You must be with Yoruichi tonight, am I right?" Dumbly, Soi nodded to her regular bartender as she went off without request to make Soi's favorite drink. "It's a shame. She is.... pure poison, I hope you know. God bless her, she makes those boys buy drink after drink, knowing full and well that not one has a chance in hell of getting in her pants. Though…I haven't had this much play on a Tuesday in months, but the shitty thing is she's stealing my tips. I could have sworn I saw some green going into those jeans."

Soi chuckled over the rim of her glass, breathing in the deep fumes of the tequila and orange juice concentrate. Seichi always doubled the drink whenever she was with Yoruichi, either to get her out of here quicker, or to relieve some of the pain inflicted by her promiscuity. "How's life, Sei?" she mumbled, barley interested. Soi didn't know if it was the lack of respect she had obtained of woman, or the fact she saw no one other than Yoruichi whenever she was out, but she could not find the leanest and poutiest lipped woman attractive anymore. Any real lays were sloppy and boring until she finally stopped and only waited until Yoruichi wanted to play.

"No. No bar time pleasantries. Come on. Business is slow right now... after this song my bar will be raped for drinks. Now why are you out with her rather than Koji?" Thinking it over for a second or two she corrected herself. "No, I mean, why do you hang around someone who makes you do nothing but sit and drink or someone who makes you laugh and, face it, gets you laid, because you surely don't try hard enough." Interrupting Soi's growl, Sei was beckoned by the sound of fingertips drumming on the wooden flesh of the bar only inches away. Seichi tousled Soi's hair again before refreshing the drunk's cup that sulked in the corner of the bar. "This is your last one buddy. You're paying that tab tonight."

"Women, Sei, Just… women. You wouldn't understand." She mumbled grudgingly over the rim of her glass. Tipping the bottom up, the smooth, ass kicking liquor passed through her lips; the liquid velvet slid down her throat and warmed her stomach that had been aching and churning all night. Seichi was a good friend: she didn't water down any of Soi's drinks.

"Mhm. Yeah, okay. I don't know at all, right?" Seichi asked, sarcasm lacing her voice as she laughed quietly. Soi looked at her, smile crooked, eyes skeptical. Seichi whipped out the dirty towel from her back pocket and began to swab the counter. Growing more agitated by the second, Soi itched to know the secret, the gossip lying just under the skin of her mutual friend.

"What did you do, Sei?" Soi nearly squealed, grabbing her Seichi's arm from behind the counter, pulling her back towards her. Willingly, she returned to Soi's front, too close for comfort. Soi backed away a few inches, not in disgust, but rather in surprise. Seichi's breath bathed Soi's lips, her mouth watering and her tongue dancing behind her lips.

"I had… a fearless streak once. I met this girl during spring break and we… went absolutely crazy." Seichi laughed as she began to play with the fingers still draped lightly over her arm. _Was she… flirting_, Soi thought. Pulling her fingers back, Soi felt her ears ignite. She was a horrible blusher as Yoruichi had proved recently. Seichi's mysteriously green eyes burrowed through her, turning and disturbing something deep within her that, since now, Yoruichi was the only one that could touch. _Is she losing her grip on me? Am I going to be free,_ Soi sighed inwardly. Wishful thinking was al it was, soon the leash would tighten and she would be back at her master's side.

"What—ahem—what happened?" Soi stuttered, slowly withdrawing her hand and teasing her own hair, nonchalantly.

"Well... I met this girl a while ago. Always came in with this chick, hot as the day was long, but I could never take my eyes off of her partner. While everyone was staring lovingly at her 'escort' she pouted at the bar and... I guess I fell in love with her. We would talk for hours before 'the master' came to take her home and... um... well I can only guess, if you know what I mean. I couldn't think of anything else until she walked through those doors again."

Transfixed by the pounds of implication that poured over Soi, she stared in awe, barley able to form words. She nodded, the only thing she could manage, urging Sei to continue. "Eventually she started talking to me more and more, but her appearances at the bar become few and far between." Sei sighed heavily, elegantly tossing her dark chocolate tresses out of her shining emeralds. "And then she stopped showing up all together for about two weeks." Her last sentence was one of finality. The story couldn't be over, could it? Confidence began to bubble under Soi's thin flesh until she decided that she was able to speak.

"And… then…?" A hearty blush tore through Soi's helpless body, leaving no pore unsaturated by the unwanted crimson. Seichi smiled at Soi's innocence before divulging her hidden past. They were both so involved in the storytelling, that they didn't even realize the song had come to an end.

"Well… then—"

"Hey, lovely. Why aren't you dancing with me?" Long strong arms surrounded Soi, almost making her jump out of her skin. While talking to Sei, she had forgotten the flashing lights, the loud music, the sickening smell of vomit and alcohol, and even…Yoruichi. An occurrence that did not come often enough.

"I'm sorry. You didn't look very lonely out there, as far as I could tell." Soi mumbled, pushing back into Yoruichi, burrowing into her warmth. Without wavering once from the mild harshness in Soi's voice, gold met grey as she whispered so quietly Soi had to strain to hear her.

"I am always lonely without you." Soi waited for the punch line, the signature giggle, anything. As she searched Yoruichi's eyes for any sign of humor or deception, she fell short. In fact, in a refreshing change of pace, she seemed genuine and serious, loving and warm; she had seemed to have transformed into the person that Soi _used_ to know and cherish. Soi turned to face Yoruichi, pressing her forehead against the older girl's and letting her body be guided into a gentle and unrushed kiss, so tender and intimate that Seichi turned away feeling as if she was intruding.

Just as they began to break apart, a rather slow, yet upbeat song flowed through club while, as Sei predicted, her bar was swarmed for drinks. With a flick of her wrist, Yoruichi's followers had suddenly…disappeared and it was only Yoruichi and Soi who existed in the word at that one moment in time. Everything was perfect, the way it used to be.

Soi's elbows rested lightly upon Yoruichi's shoulders as her fingers laced themselves in her flowing violet hair. Those shoulders that have yet to bear the weight that every set is not only entitled, but required to carry. In turn, Soi's shoulders were slumped, well…her whole body was. The only thing keeping her standing and swaying form side to side was Yoruichi's strong arms that encircled and supported her pressed against a familiar body she never wanted to let go of. Soi was captured by those amber crystals that studied her. They were pregnant with humor and ambition, as they usually were, but something else lurked there. Something that Soi lived from day to day to see: love. It melted Soi. The second she was in her arms, Soi's legs were essentially useless.

They danced together, as one; one heartbeat, one soul, one love. They wouldnt be able to pull apart from each other if they tried and, relunctantly, they had tried before. But , as expected, it all ended in disaster and their arms were soon full with each others' warmth once again. Soi felt herself meliting into the shape of Yoruichi, feeling herself throwing caution to the wind and giving up everything and anyhting that her goddess desired. At that moment in time, during that one breath they shared, life was perfect. There was no one else around them, no work, no responsiblities, no obligations, no restractions, and, best of all, no regrets.

"What are you thinking about, Yoruichi?" Soi asked, mildly concerned by the mischievous glint in her eye and the toothy grin that slid across her dance partner's gentle features.

"You. And how beautiful you still are." To hide her flattered smile, Soi laid her head against her lover's neck and tightened her arms around her, as if she was afraid of letting go. "And how long it's been since I made you scream my name. Or black out from an orgasm." Soi stiffened in her arms, but refused to lift her head. Yoruichi was worried that she had crossed a line, until she felt the rising heat of Soi's forehead scorching her shoulder.

"There are…people, Yoruichi." Soi growled, or attempted to. Her voice shook with new found lust, still coursing through her veins as the image Yoruichi had planted in her mind remained.

"C'mon." Yoruichi eased Soi's weight back to her feet and gripped her hand as she moved through the crowd as a raindrop would through a cloud. She guided her lover towards the back of the club; the wall decorated with thousands of strings of beads and sheets of sheer curtains. Smoke spilled out of one or two of the private rooms that were sheathed by the flimsy barriers as hushed moans came out of another. Soi remembered this spot well, in fact it had been the setting of many dreams and…even more nightmares. As promised, Yoruichi slid past the beads of the third hole in the wall from the left, and pulled Soi with; to the place where they first made love.

Yoruichi pulled Soi into her lap, lounging on the tacky teal couch that bordered the tight room. "I've been dreaming of this for weeks." Her thin lips traced Soi's long neck, careful and patient, as they caressed the shell of her ear. Soi shivered, unable to control her body anymore, not as long as she was within her goddess' grip. Feeling the pressure of the dark fingers that teased her chin to the side, Soi obediently complied, eagerly greeting the velvet tongue that slipped past her lips with her own.

Suddenly, the actions that had ignited a burning passion within Soi stopped; with no warning. A squeal of disappointment fell from her throat as she searched the lips that had teased hers so seductively. Yoruichi laughed at her lover before tucking her chin in the younger's shoulder and pulling her slim waist into her. "Do you remember the first time we came here?" Of course she remembered it. She couldn't forget it no matter how hard she tried.

**A/N: Ok so I had a flash back that went with this but it was getting too long and I was rushing myself because its been a while since ive updated so. Don't kill me if the chapter is a little empty. Ill try**

**And Im sorry to those who are saying that they don't like the idea of Yoruichi being so manipulative and Soi so weak. I do too. But I have had writers block for a solid 6 months or so and I put their names and descriptions in a story I was already writing. Im just hoping that you keep reading because it will twist very very soon.**

**Thanks for reading people.**

**~The Junkie**


	4. The Beginning

The Beginning

* * *

_Six Years Ago_

_Sprawled on her bed, her feet leaving black scuff mark on the wall above her, her short violet hair curled elegantly around her fingers, she watched her roommate slumped in the corner over her over-used text book, much in the way a feral cat would watch her prey. Her golden eyes flickered ad her crooked smile grew once she caught the younger girl's timid glance before the crimson spread like wild fire across her handsome features. Yoruichi had watched this girl for some time, but she could never get more than a formality or a polite greeting out of her. Tonight was the night to change all that._

_Her long, dark legs slid off the bed along with the rest of her lithe body, moving lucidly through the thick, stuff room; an eager snake waiting patiently for her meal. The shy student pretended not to notice, her pen moving more rapidly and frantically across the paper, her breathing changing ever so slightly. It looked as if she was ready to jump straight out of her skin when Yoruichi climbed onto the bed almost seductively, before she laid herself across the young one's outspread legs._

"_Soi…?" Yoruichi purred, reaching up to tease Soi's shoulder length raven hair._

"_Y-Yes… Shihouin-chan." She breathed, distracted by the way her roommate's claw caressed her neck and her jaw line every so lightly. Without thinking, she pushed herself into her touch, but when she realized her actions, she stiffened, clearly embarrassed as her blood threatened to burn through her pale skin._

"_I have told you before, Soi, that is not my name." Yoruichi twisted in her lap, pulling the textbook away from the pale child to capture her frightened gaze. "Or do you just choose to ignore me every time I speak?"_

"_N-no. I-I do not mean any disrespect. I… I just…"Soi stumbled to find the right words, but fell short and decided she had buried herself into a deep enough hole. It wasn't that she was ignoring her classmate or that she found her boring, making it hard to grasp anything that the woman said; in fact it was the exact opposite. Soi could hardly take her eyes off the woman, let alone stop thinking about her. Every night was almost sleepless as her dreams filled with Yoruichi's dark, sensual limbs, gentle caresses, and warm embraces. And when she couldn't sleep, she watched the older woman, watching with awe as her chest rose and fell gentle, the moonlight filling the room, bathing the goddess in an incandescent innocence that made her appear almost holy. Most nights, though, were not as peaceful. Sometimes, even, Soi would stir from a far from deep sleep by Yoruichi's whimpers or growls, and sometimes even a heart breaking scream would pierce the silent night. Soi would crouch beside her friend, wiping the sweat from her brow, gentling stroking the sides of her face, watching the tense muscles smooth out once again._

"_Yeah, Yeah. Whatever, Hey, you wanna go out tonight with me. My friends flaked and I really don't want to cooped-up in here all night." She burrowed deeper into Soi's lap, clearly content with the intimacy between them. The frail student jumped; an involuntary reflex to how her denim shorts had shifted with Yoruichi's head. Soi was aware of the strange feeling building within her loins, and was distracted by the almost overwhelming desire to wrap her arms around the woman close enough to feel her breath upon her knee and kiss away the demons that had haunted her for so many nights. "Hey what are you working on, by the way? We have the same classes, am I missing something?" Before she could object, Yoruichi already had the parchment in her hands, her eyes wide with what seemed to be skepticism._

"_I-I'm sorry, Miss. Shihouin. I-I promise you I mean no disrespect. I realize I was out of line. I'm sorry. I am truly sorry." Tears began to well in the young girl's eyes as she crawled away from Yoruichi, curling into the tightest ball she could manage. "Just don't take it out on my father. Do what you want to me. Just, please, my father did nothing. He did nothing…" Her body rocked back and father, arms tight around her knees, eyes shut tight as large, transparent pearls rolled down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes._

"_Soi…" Yoruichi breathed, running her fingers across the charcoal strokes that entwined to make a picture perfect replica of the dark goddess, lost within the tangled sheets of her bed. Although she longed to gaze at the sketch, she was forced to tear her eyes away, taking in a much more depressing and almost pathetic sight._

"_So sorry, Ma'am. I'm so sorry."_

"_Father—Soi…what are you talking about. I don't kno—"Just then it hit her: before Yoruichi had run away from home, she had lived like a princess. People waiting on her hand and foot, people watching over her every second of every day, men, woman, and even children groveling at her feet as if they themselves were not worthy of the Earth they stood on. She hated it. The second that she got the chance she decided to flee without a spoken word to anyone._

_But the Fon's… Fon… Soi Fon…and her father. The only Fon Yoruichi ever remembered Aki, but he was young—possibly too young to be Soi's father. He had followed her footsteps to a tee…literally. He was paid to carry a knife and follow the Shihouin's legacy: their only daughter, and protect her from all the evils of the world. Everything that a child was supposed to learn on their own, Yoruichi had been deprived of. She felt that undying urge that every woman felt to find herself, to let the world mold her rather than her parents or their money._

"_Aki… Fon…" Soi's head snapped up as if Yoruichi had sentenced her father to death._

"_Please. No… I'm sorry. Hurt me. Not him. He did nothing. Please, Shihouin-chan, please. Take pity on me." Soi threw herself flat against the lumpy mattress, her delicate face smashed harshly against the fabric, her frail body exploding in almost hysterical sobs._

_If it would have been anyone else, Yoruichi would have left the room to have them feel ashamed, lying at the feet of nothing but air. She hated the way people acted about her just because she bears the Shihouin name. Slowly and carefully, afraid that the child might fall apart in her hands, she lifted Soi's chin. Her dark hands held the trembling face sternly, fingertips brushing back the frays of her raven bangs that were soaked with tears._

"_Soi…It's beautiful. Why would I hurt your father?" Her usually playful tone had shrunk into barley a whisper, trying so hard to comfort her roommate, and—then again—trying to understand why she even cared at all for her._

"_I have dishonored you and your family. I—"_

"_Stop, Soi. You drew a breath taking portrait of me. This is… flattering. I never knew I had wings when I slept." The shadowing that Soi had been working on before it was so violently ripped from her clutching where beginning to bend form lavish feathery wings that seemed to engulf her supple body. "And believe me; nothing you can do to me will dishonor my family. _I_ dishonor my family."_

_The child-like adult stopped convulsing but then tears flowed freely from her swollen eyes. Yoruichi had originally thought that Soi was cold and void of any emotion; being that she spent every waking minute reading a text book, cover to cover, or regurgitating the psycho-babble and the politically correct terms that their professor's scream at the until the pulsating vein pops out of their thick necks. But now, she was completely devastated by the suggestion that someone she cared about would be affected by something foolish that she had done. Yoruichi, usually disgusted by an act similar to the one she had witnessed, she felt a sense of—jealousy wash over her. _She_ wanted to be the one Soi cried about, the one that she love unconditionally._

"_Come here." Yoruichi whispered, laying the masterpiece at her knees, forgetting the influence it held over the young girl. Yoruichi enveloped her frail body in her strong arms, pulling the shaken girl into her chest, slipping her bent leg beneath her._

"_Y-Yorui…chi…chan…" Soi shook, the sudden contact frightened her and… calmed her, giving her a chance to regain her breath and steady her rapid heartbeat._

"_There we go. Now if we can only work on that '-chan' part we'll be in good shape." Yoruichi felt a weak vibration radiate from Soi's cold body before the stress melted away and Soi formed into the goddess' chest, finally bending to her will. "I have an idea!" Soi nearly jumped out of her skin, having stopped thinking in her roommate's gentle embrace; and had nearly stopped breathing._

"_We'll go to the 'Toy Box'! You need to get out more." Yoruichi flew to the other side of their room, ripping Soi's draws open and flinging her rejected clothes against the wall. Soi stood slowly, curiously observing the creature that so diligently disregarded all respect for privacy or other people's belongings. The quiet girl gingerly picked up the abused clothes, one by one, folding them neatly and stacking them on her bed to be put away later. Meanwhile, Yoruichi mumbled to herself, having emptied Soi's draws of all her drab clothing._

"_What is wrong with you? All you have is school girl apparel and not the sexy school girl either. The lonely school girl that always sat in the corner reading or drawing." Yoruichi groaned, clearly frustrated, ignoring the fact that her comment had cut Soi deeply. "Ah! Here! I could work with this…" Yoruichi ripped a pair of worn jeans and a tank top from the growing pile behind her. Dutifully, she towed Soi towards her. Before the young "school girl" could react, Yoruichi's fingers had already worked Soi's jeans down past her knees._

"_Y-Yoruichi!" Soi squealed, jumping back, trying desperately to cover herself up Unfortunately though, her jeans where still shackled around her ankles. Soi tumbled backwards, blush aflame, searching for anything to wrap around her bare bottom half._

"_Well, now! I might have been wrong about that school girl remark, eh?" Yoruichi giggled, pointing at the dark lacey thong that barley covered anything. Soi was merely a streak of red and black as she buried herself in the neatly folded comforter she had torn off her bed violently, hoping that Yoruichi would forget all about her._

_Yoruichi stayed on her knees for a while, taking note of how she had begun drooling once her hands were upon the frail woman and how responsive she was—not to mention the blush that Yoruichi loved to inspire. She had to have this woman. She _needed_ her. Yoruichi sauntered over to the trembling lump under the black comforter after retrieving something from their desk. She yanked back a small corner of the fabric and gazed into the frightened steel grey eyes before fingering a stray lock of raven hair._

"_If you won't let me dress you… then—at least—let me fix this." Yoruichi presented a shining pair of scissors to the girls shocked expression._

"_M-My hair?" She squeaked._

_Yoruichi nodded._

_A few hours later…_

"_I can't believe I let you do that..." Soi sulked at the bar, staring down her plain seltzer._

"_Oh, come on, Soi. What are you buzzing about? That's all I hear from you. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Speak up, girly or I'll have to start calling you Bee." Yoruichi tussled the girl's newly cut, ear length hair before playing with one of the shoulder length braids, tipped with a black butterfly._

"_Nothing. Never mind. Just forget it." Soi groaned into her cup before taking a small sip._

"_Alright. You brought it on yourself. You have a new name _and _you have to dance with me. Come on, Little Bee." Yoruichi stole Soi's hand from the glass and pranced off to the dance floor. The young girl was still in shock when Yoruichi moved behind her, pulling her slim hips to her hungrily. Soi was shocked, afraid even, but she didn't stop Yoruichi for, once she became attuned to the contact, took pleasure in it. She felt this strange sensation building from deep inside her—one that she has never felt before, at least no of this intensity._

_Soi couldn't move, much less keep track of all the things that she was letting Yoruichi do to her. Her lips brushed against Soi's thin neck and she shivered as it sent a shock down her body, through it, around it, over it. Soi was getting high off of Yoruichi, though she had promised herself she wouldn't shit faced that night, there was no way she could have anticipated the affect Yoruichi had on her. But the golden eyed devil did know and how she loved to play that against her little bee._

_Soi pressed back against Yoruichi, longing to feel her cat like body around her, holding her, protecting her, loving her. Yoruichi obliged, but—as always—there was an ulterior motive. Yoruichi's toned arm found its way around Soi's stomach, holding her close for two seconds, before spinning her around—almost violently—and catching her before the uncoordinated girl could fall. Yoruichi's eyes were powerful, pinning Soi to the ground, refusing to loosen its menacing grip as Yoruichi had her way with her—not that she minded much anyway. Soi had dreamed of this moment since Yoruichi first began to sleep with her face to Soi and she actually got a glimpse of the person that Yoruichi had tried to hide from everyone for so long._

_Dark, hard arms held the short girl tight to her body as she slowing moved closer, inch by inch, until she had Soi cradled delicately in her arms, swaying back and forth. All the while, Soi was lost, completely at awe in how those eyes—those golden gems that sparkled and shined—look deep within her, instantly knowing each and every one of her crippling fears, her dirty secrets, and her inner most desires. She wanted nothing more than to seal her eyes shut and close Yoruichi out of her head, her soul, but it was useless._

_In addition to her hypnotizing glare, her delicate hands roamed Soi's body, memorizing the foreign landscape, caressing the gentle curves and crevices of her body, and teasing the quivering skin that was so eagerly offered to her. Soi was doomed—doomed to be the play thing for the nigh. Though her mind wouldn't function enough to realize it just yet, she barley had any choice in the manner. She merely nodded when Yoruichi peered down at her, somehow changing the color and the intensity of her eyes just enough to allow Soi to speak, and whispered, lips brushing against the tender spot on her neck: "Let's find a more…private place."_

_Soi let her head fall back, the newly cut tresses falling out of her eyes, finding herself in total submission of the seductress before her. Things had moved so fast that night; Soi had to make sure she was still breathing through most of it. She never had anyone that meant anything else to her than a friend or a classmate. The only person she had ever had feelings for; their family had owned her, dictated everything that she did and had to give approval of every word that she said._

_It was Yoruichi's step-mother that threatened Soi with the termination of her father and harm done to the little family she had left. Once Soi finally got out and had begun to make something of herself, she believed that hell was left behind her. That was until she realized she was roomed with the Shihouin heir. But those fears had seemed to melt away once she was in the comforting arms of the kind goddess. She didn't know that such a placid and forgiving attitude could ever come from a Shihouin.  
_

"_Soi...are you with me?" Yoruichi asked, her voice laced with a thin undertone or worry, afraid that Soi was unconscious and unresponsive in her arms._

"_Y-yes, Youruichi-ch—"_

_Soi's familiar handle for her goddess was cut short by velvet lips, softly caressing hers. Soi was lost, even more so than before, lost in the incredible sensation that tore through her frail body, having no mercy on her sanity or—more importantly—her ability to stand. Two millions thoughts raced through her head but little she took heed to. The red lights that shine when something was wrong seemed to be paralyzed, the little voice in the back of her head seemed to have been silenced by the lips as well—everything that could have stopped Soi from reveling in the way Yoruichi moved against her, with her had long since abandoned her and she wasn't about to go searching for them now._

"…_breathe, Soi." She could feel Yoruichi grin against her lips, but she did not—could not—respond. "Soi" Yoruichi laughed, pulling back leaving Soi whimpering from the loss of the glorious contact._

"_I-I'm sorry." Soi whispered, coming back to reality, breathing in as deep as she can, realizing her lungs had been aching for quite some time_

"_Just… don't forget this time." Yoruichi leaned in again, capturing her lips in another kiss, this one more inviting than forced or rushed. Soi, surprisingly, responded, acting on her own volition as she gathered the courage to let her shaking hands trace the curves of her essence as Yoruichi had done to her. It wasn't long until Yoruichi was on her back on a tacky teal couch; arms pinned above her head with a leg on either side of her hips. Yoruichi was taken back by the explosive power that seemed to fester just beneath the skin of the quiet and frail girl. Well—she wasn't quiet and frail anymore._

_Soi lead hot trail of kisses and bite marks down Yoruichi's bear chest, gripping and tearing at the fabric, desperate to devour whatever was underneath. Breathily, Yoruichi called her name, requesting her patience and her attention at least for a moment. With frightened eyes, as if she were ashamed, Soi stopped and made her way back up to Yoruichi's traumatizing gaze to find it… soft and almost pleading. Slowly, she brought her chocolate colored hands up to either side of Soi's face, stroking it soothingly._

"_Are you sure… you want this—you wan t…me?" Soi grinned slyly at the insecurity in Yoruichi's voice. She never would have imagined her goddess being so…shy. Those words sounded as if they belonged in between Soi's lips rather than hers. She leaned down slowly lacing her fingers in with Yoruichi's, searching the sparkling, playful eyes as she whispered those three words that—as Yoruichi thought—no one would ever say to the tan goddess._

"_I love you…" Soi whispered, a little less confidently as she had imagined it. "I'm sure of it."_

"I love you, Soi." Yoruichi whispered into her lover's ear as her hands left fiery patterns down her sides that burned through her clothes. She remembered those words, and how she regretted ever saying them. If Soi could find a way to go back and swallow them before she ever gave them a chance to fall from her lips, she wouldn't have. But she would have stopped it from getting any further, stopped herself from handing over her heart so quickly, stopped herself from jumping in head first, or at least slowed it down. Now there was no turning back—and Soi was fully aware.

Soi reached back with a thin pale arm, capturing Yoruichi's head before forcing her lips upon her, her tongue in her, eliciting moans from her. Breathless and blushing—not necessarily from embarrassment—she lit Yoruichi on fire, so hot she though the club was in danger. It wasn't from her hands, her lips, or her hips that she so ruthlessly used against her goddess, but it was three words, rich with passion.

"We're going…_now_."

**A/N: Ok. So I guess the memory was a tad thrown together, but i tried to make it a point that Yoruichi wasn't always this way. There might have been a few undertones, but it wasn't all about the games and the physical. idk. i really didnt think people would like it this much. I really expected a lot more reviews like all the ones saying how they hate authors portraying Yoruichi like this or how much they hate the story line. Thank you for reading though. It means SO much.**

**This is probably going to be the longest chapter i make though. the flashback went a little longer than id like it to be.  
**


	5. The Betrayal

The Betrayal

Steel grey eyes burned into the ceiling above her, cursing herself for the control she had steadily lost over the years. _How could I do this to myself again? You would fucking think I would have had enough the first time it happened, much less the last._ Soi peered down her chest at the sleeping figure wrapped around her, bare skin on bare skin, the only source of heat in the depth of the winter night. She shifted her body enough to assess the damage from last night. Her fears confirmed, every muscle ached, every bite mark and bruise still felt fresh, and she could have sworn she reopened skin again as she wiggled against the mattress.

Last night had been a savage one as they took out their frustrations on each other—or rather—Soi took out her frustrations on Yoruichi and the dark goddess had only returned the favor, thinking it was another one of her games. She hated the woman that slept on top of her with such a passion, but what ever negative feelings that she held for her was matched, ten-fold, with dedication and devotion. Soi didn't understand how or why Yoruichi had insisted on hurting Soi so much, even if she wasn't aware that her way of life had broken Soi into millions of pieces, she had no excuse. She led a selfish and greedy behavior, disregarding any emotional or psychological anguish she may have made along the way.

But Soi couldn't just easily walk away from her—from this. She _needed_ Yoruichi in her life. She could hardly breathe or function without thinking about her, about what she was doing, what or who she was thinking about, her smile, her laugh, the way her skin would glisten after her and Soi's vicious or sensuous time spent together, the way her hands felt on her body, her lips, her…everything. But, then again, Soi took pride and comfort in the obsession and the way Yoruichi always came back sooner or later when she wanted to play. Because, deep down, she knew that, even to the most minuet extent, Yoruichi felt the same way, or she wouldn't pay her these intense visits.

Soi didn't know when it had gotten this far, past the point of no return, but they had gotten there before Soi could effectively think the situation through. Their first time, one on one, their first conversation had run deeper than Soi thought words could go. She hadn't realized the fervor of Yoruichi and how dedicated the older girl could get if she tried and…how cunning she was. Yoruichi was a lot smarter than people gave her credit for. After all—it took a lot of hard work to be able to surf through life doing whatever—and whoever—she wanted at a moments notice. You were just lucky enough if you had gotten the chance to go along with her, but Soi—on the other hand—never really took much comfort in that fact.

Soi slid out from the dark goddess' grasp, stopping only to wipe the drool that had accumulated on her stomach. Turning back, she caught sight of the most angelic vision she had seen in a very _very_ long time. Yoruichi was tangled into the single bedspread, un-tucked from the mattress, which had survived last night's abuse; all the others were in a pile (along with a pathetic pile of shredded clothes) on the floor.

Her dark legs were exposed, shinning with perspiration in the golden brilliance of the dawn that filled the room from top to bottom. The supple curve of her hip dipped down and back up, but the rest of the view was blocked by the stubborn cloth, earning a heated growl from Soi. She painfully pulled her eyes past and up to Yoruichi's sweetly slumbering face, nestled into the crook of her arm. But… it wasn't as "sweet" as Soi had anticipated it to be. Yoruichi's nails were steadily digging into the worn fabric, her brow furrowed and her free arm moving, ever so slightly, up and down the spot where Soi once was.

"Oh… kitten…" Soi cooed, making her way towards her sleeping lover. She bent down, half expecting Yoruichi to leap up and pull Soi down with her playfully, and began to smooth out the wrinkles in the soft, tan flesh as she had done years ago. "When the hell did you become so helpless, eh?" Soi pulled Yoruichi to her again, slipping beneath her as she did so. The bathroom could wait. The perfect dream that Soi had found herself in once again because of Yoruichi couldn't. In fact, they had a habit of dying off as quickly and as unexpectedly as they had come.

Soi nuzzled her chin against Yoruichi's hair, drifting off into another dreamless sleep, waiting for something to disrupt their happiness… again.

"I promise, doll, I'll be here when you wake up." Soi mumbled into the silence.

_Six Years Ago..._

"_See…?"A young and still breath taking Yoruichi sighed, obviously content and satisfied. She gazed up at Soi who was perched above her, her short braids tickling her face, her neck, her chest, stirring her from a peaceful slumber. "I told you I'd be here when you woke up." Yoruichi ran her hands up and down Soi's sides slowly, raising goose-bumps on her flawless skin._

"_Well…" A shiver burst through Soi's body despite her sad attempts to conceal it. "You didn't have much of a choice. You do live here, you know." She replaced her teasing braids with a pair of knowing lips that teased her lover lazily._

"_But I didn't have to sleep in your bed, now did I?" Yoruichi purred, pulling Soi against her body, dragging her teeth along the sensitive skin of her neck. "Well… there wasn't a lot of sleeping going on in your bed anyway, eh?"_

_Soi's mind went back to the night before as she relaxed against her roommate, cursing the sun that gave them no warning that their incredible night together was coming to an end, thinking back on what was said between the two in the heat of the moment—or rather—what wasn't said. It had been at least three weeks since she had confessed her feelings for Yoruichi and, though she didn't expect her to return the phrase immediately, she thought she would see some sort of improvement by the end of the month. But that was not to be. Using the tips of her fingers to lightly trace random designs across the cool flesh of Yoruichi's flat stomach, Soi thought and re-thought about there future together, if there even was going to be one, if this had all been a huge mistake, if Yoruichi had taken what she had said seriously—exhausting her mind and her soul. Her restless deliberation came to an abrupt end, broken by Yoruichi's gentle voice._

"…_Soooi… You're buzzing again."_

"_Yeah, just…thinking." Soi replied in an unsure tone._

"_Uh-oh…That's not as comforting as you thought it would be, Soi" Yoruichi teased once more, but was at a loss when she received no reply; neither a giggle nor a moan. She shifted beneath her alabaster lover, changing her position so she was able to stare down at her little bee while keeping a comforting arm tight around her slim waist. "Soi…talk to me, love." Soi melted when those sweet words reached her ears, but still refused to speak. She only pushed her face into the tender hand calmly stroking her cheek._

_Soi let her steel grey eyes hide behind her falling lids as she felt her dark lover stoop down, her hot breath bathing Soi's thin neck. She was taken back, startled, when Yoruichi whispered heatedly in her ear. "Stop over thinking it. If you don't know by now I think I'm doing something wrong."_

"_W-what do…. you m-mean…Yoruichi?" Soi gasped, finding it difficult to remain focused with Yoruichi's lips so close._

"_I love you… my little bee…" Yoruichi's lips attached themselves to that oh-so-glorious spot on her bee's neck, caressing it, biting it, making the younger girl beneath her moan and squirm, and wildly grinding herself against the older woman. "What?' Yoruichi giggled pulling back from the very disappointed Soi. "Does that make you…happy?" Soi pulled her back down, devouring her with a blood curdling kiss, sliding her tongue passed grinning lips and exploring the eager mouth above her violently._

_When they departed for breath, Yoruichi asked in a shaky voice: "D-did you really think…otherwise?" Her toothy grin made itself known when a thick blush crossed over Soi's milky cheeks, nodding slowly."Oh, Soi…you don't ever have to worry about that. After all... I am your angel, right?" Yoruichi tilted her head to the framed and colored portrayal of her slumbering body and her angelic wings._

"_Mine..." Soi whispered, running a crooked finger through Yoruichi's tangled hair, tears filling her dark eyes. "…mine."_

"_Yes. Now if you would be so kind as to stop crying and finish what you started. Not everyone can do this to me." A sly grin was plastered sloppily over Soi's features as she slid a nee up suddenly between Yoruichi's legs, watching her golden eyes widen in shock then her pupils in pleasure. Soi slid herself down Yoruichi's bare body, leaving bite marks and hickeys wherever she pleased—after all—Yoruichi _was_ hers. The goddess' arms shook as the held both Yoruichi and Soi's clinging body from the mattress. She finally collapsed, rolling on her back, taking her bee with her._

"_U-ugh. S-Soi…" She had replaced her knee with her long, slim fingers, lightly teasing the dark nether lips bellow, almost overwhelmed by how slick they had gotten just by her actions. Soi pushed harshly on the saturated lips, causing Yoruichi to gasp, grinding against her lover's hand, practically begging for more, but Soi wasn't about to relinquish control just yet. Her teeth soon found a swollen nipple as she rolled it between her lips, swirling her tongue around it, leaning back to blow on the wet skin. Little Bee's touch became lighter and lighter and Yoruichi finally growled, "Soi! You tease!" She placed a tan hand on Soi's, guiding it, urging it, feeling Soi's nimble fingers slip past her entrance._

"Salt! Sweat! Sugar on the asphalt! Our hearts littering the topsoil!"

"_Fuck me!" Yoruichi jumped from under Soi and leapt for her singing phone._

"_I was trying!" Soi—just as frustrated—fell back on the bed, defeated, but still somehow distracted by the goddess that fluttered around the room. _She really is an angel isn't she_, Soi thought to herself, resting her head on her elbow, a toothy grin wiping across her face. A sense of…pride filled her, from head to toe, positively brimming with contentment and bliss. She could say with certainty that she had never—nor will she ever again—feel a love this intense again; a love that completely consumed her. She was completely comfortable with the thought of Yoruichi being with her, beside her, even under her at times, for the rest of their natural born lives._

_When Yoruichi finally found her phone and flipped it open, grin on her face by the sight before her, she suddenly found it extremely difficult to talk. She watched, nearly drooling, as she watched Soi erotically lick her fingers that were still glistening from Yoruichi's excitement from only seconds before. At last, Soi heard a voice hum on the other end of the line, apparently overhearing Yoruichi's labored breathing. The little bee found humor in her antics, reveling in the affect that she finally had on her goddess. But, suddenly, every enticing emotion fell from the dark woman's face as she gazed dumbly at her naked lover_

_She soon started to frantically search for clothes that weren't wrinkled or…otherwise soiled. It started to see Soi's angel in such frenzy, terrified even by something that Soi wasn't aware of. She strained her ears to listen to Yoruichi's incoherent ramblings, desperate to understand._

"_Y-yes…no no I'm not doing anything important…yeah. No I didn't forget, have faith, will you...Yeah, yeah… Oh… now? Umm ok. Sure. I need to get dressed though... yeah, see you then." Yoruichi quickly flipped the phone closed and slung it across the room, yanking three-day-old shorts over her lengthy tan legs._

"_Y-Yoruichi? So…am I not important?" Soi asked, slightly embarrassed, feeling the need to cover herself._

"_What do you mean, little bee?" She dug through the pile of clothes more violently before becoming frustrated and surfing through Soi's draws. Soon, though, she was hit in the head with a bra thrown by her bee, eliciting a giggle from her before she strapped it across her torso._

"_You said you weren't _doing_ anything important. You were doing me Yoruichi. Am I not important?" Soi reached for her oversized tee shirt she always wore to bed and…always laughed over as Yoruichi struggled to get it off of her, nearly ripping it in half sometimes._

"_Soi… not now, you know what I meant." Yoruichi growled tossing Soi a pair of shorts that her crumpled carelessly in the corner._

"_No… not really, but it feels like your not going to explain it so…"_

"_You're gonna drop it?" Yoruichi asked hopefully, pulling one of Soi's tank top's over her head. It only reached over her gracious breasts and down to her navel, but it would have to work._

"_Not what I said." Yoruichi felt strong, but frail arms wrap around her waist and a chin rest lightly on her shoulder. "What did I do?" Yoruichi relaxed into the touch that was offered, becoming lost in the embrace that she had become almost dependent on._

"_You…didn't do anything… Soi…I just… I have to go meet a friend today. He's back in town and—"_

"_He?" Soi's lips brushed against the perspiring flesh of Yoruichi's thin neck, causing the older girl's head to reel back, her forehead pressing against her possessor._

"_Yes: he. Don't worry Soi. Remember? I love _you._ I always will." She felt the younger girl nod against her, but her grip tightened. Soi felt as if she would loose Yoruichi if she let go, loose her forever. Was she truly enough to make her stay? What did she have to do to make Yoruichi see how devoted she was to her? She would give her life away willingly and eagerly for Yoruichi's happiness. Soi's rambling mind came to a halt by a hard knock on the door._

_As anticipated, Yoruichi flew from Soi's arms and to the door. She was left standing in the middle of the room, suddenly alone and cold. She wrapped her arms around herself gingerly as she witnessed a tall, dirty blond man standing before Yoruichi, enveloping her in an intimate grasp that Yoruichi did not resist from. She almost turned away… almost. Her eyes were glued to the couple, her jaw on the floor, her steel grey eyes threatening to swallow her whole head as the man caught Yoruichi's lips in his and wrapping his arms around her, greedy and hungry._

_He was not as gentle as Soi was, he was not as caring. He did not immediately go for Yoruichi's magic spot; he just took, and took, and took. After what seemed to be an eternity, they finally broke apart, Yoruichi panting and clearing loving it. She turned to her soon-to-be-ex-lover with a dreamy, far off gaze that Soi thought only _she_ could give to her. She, apparently, was mistaken._

"_Soi, this is Kisuke. Kisuke…oh you get it. I gotta pee! I'll be right back." She turned from the dorm and fled to the bathroom at the end of the hall, the room saturated with a pregnant silence. _

"_Hi. Nice to finally meet you. She won't shut up about you, you know." Kisuke said with an outstretched hand. Soi merely stared at it—_hard —_as if she were attempting to make it burst into flames. Feeling the intensity of her hated, he pulled back, feeling insecure and out of place when, in reality, he was. He sensed something thick in the air, something that made him feel sleazy and grimy, something that necessarily did not radiate from the pissed woman fuming in front of him. Almost as if there was a punch line, an inside joke that he wasn't in on—or maybe—what he wasn't allowed to know._

_In The Bathroom…_

"_Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!!" Yoruichi screamed at the mirror image of herself. "Why did you let this happen? How could you let this happen? God… did you see the look in her eyes? The way her voice sounded? Fuck!" She looked up at the mirror with bloodshot eyes and tear tracks streaking her face to find—an image—not of herself. Subtly, one could see how it could have derived from the dark goddess, but the person standing on the other side of the glass had red, beady eyes, a twisted, monstrous face. Fangs came out like daggers, unable to be hidden behind her lips, which were more similar to jowls… not human. The…_it_ stared her down and—in its gaze—she could feel her soul drop to her stomach, her heart lurch out of her chest and bile tease the back of her throat. Yoruichi found it difficult to look straight into the fiend's face._

You said you loved her, _the mirror accused._

_I do love her._

You told her you would always be there. That you would never hurt her. You promised to protect her; _the demon slammed its crooked claw on the counter, splitting it in two._

_I am! I…will be, Yoruichi whispered still unable to look at the obscene creature._

You killed her! She will never be the same!

_Shut up._

You're selfish!

_Shut up._

You knew every second that it couldn't be! You knew—every—single—time you held her that he would come back and take you away!

_Shut. Up._

You did this to her and you don't even care! You're gonna loose her. You are a disappointment!

_SHUT UP!_

_The monster burst into splinters of cracked silver, shards of the glass cutting into her knuckles, slicing through her silky flesh, and letting crimson beads roll down the length of her forearm._

"_No... No… no… no no no." Yoruichi whispered through her tears. "She won't leave me. She can't leave me. She _loves_ me. She loves me. She loves me. I… can't let her leave me. I won't… let her leave me." Her mind flickered back to that single moment—that soulless look in Soi's depthless grey eyes; that look of betrayal, of pure, unadulterated pain; the feeling of loneliness and foolishness. Soi deserved so much better—so much more than what Yoruichi could offer. _

"_But… what about me? I need someone. I have never had anyone love me… not like she does… not like she does. Why does she love me? I'm… no one. I'm… a disappointment." The evil spirit entered her mind again, an ugly sneer plastered across her gruesome face. "No! Stop it! She must love me. She _must_! I will make her. She has to. She…has to…"_

"_So… uhm… Damn, where is Yoruichi?" Kisuke shifted uncomfortably under Soi's sharp watch. He was certain that she hadn't blinked once since he stepped into the room. The only sound resonating in the uncomfortable silence was the sound of Soi's teeth grinding together, clicking shut every now and then._

How could Yoruichi love…_him_? _Soi thought to herself, not knowing if she could turn away if she tried. He was dressed rather… disgustingly. It looked as if he hadn't changed his clothes in days, much less showered. He had this idiotic grin plastered on his face when he had walked in and enveloped Yoruichi in an anything but gentle embrace. Soi had the urge to strip down in front of him and show off the scratch marks, the bite marks, and… the rug burns and ask him if he ever had any like them on his flesh. Had Yoruichi ever marked him as hers like this? Had Yoruichi ever loved him like she loved Soi?_

--------x--------

"_Hey guys! What I miss?" Grateful for the interruption, Kisuke wrapped a possessive arm around his girl, pulling her close. Though she stiffened, he barely seemed to notice. "Hey do you think you could wait in the car, I gotta ask Soi a favor."_

"_No problem, doll. See you soon." He had leaned in for another kiss, but Yoruichi had already left his hold and was walking towards Soi—still a menacing flame burning in her irises. Slightly rejected, he turned and left them standing in the room together, Soi staring at the absence of the man, refusing to lift her eyes to meet the golden orbs that beckoned her. Finally, Soi's chin was snatched up and a pair of familiar lips—with an unfamiliar taste—crashed against hers. Soi couldn't move; as if it was the first time they kissed, she was immobile. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think and, most importantly, she couldn't push away. When Yoruichi's grip finally lightened and Soi was released, she stumbled backwards, scrambling to get away as if Yoruichi had turned into the horrible monster that seemed to dwell within her._

"_S-soi…" Yoruichi had planned to walk out confident and inspiring, but seeing Soi shy aware from her and practically run, she felt her heart break in her chest._

"_Save it, Yoruichi! Just… I don't want to look at you." And she didn't. She stared out the solitary window and, coincidentally, at Kisuke, faking a drum solo in his car. What did he have that she didn't? Kisuke reached down and, in the most gruesome display, shoved his hand down his jeans and—as Soi thought—scratched at one of his crabs._

Oh, yeah…that_, Soi thought to herself._

_Soi's thoughts were interrupted when dark hands gripped her shoulders tightly, pinning her against the wall. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as she caught hold of her lover's dark, stormy eyes as she climbed onto the bed._

"_Too bad. You're looking at me now. You are going to call a friend and go out tonight and _stop_ feeling sorry for yourself. I had no control over this." Her voice softened as she watched the pale woman's eyes glaze over in tears, the pain still evident in her foggy eyes. She lifted a hand from her beloved's shoulder and gently caressed her cheek, running the pad of her thumb over the single tear that rolled over her flawless skin. _

"_Hey, now." She cooed, kissing the tear away instead. "I love you." Her velvety tongue jetted out, grazing the tips of Soi's lips. She leaned in, eyes shut in bliss again, trying to catch that teasing tongue. "Are you still my little bee?" Her breath bathed Soi's lips, making her curl her body, trying to make contact with anything. Getting annoyed with the silence, knowing that Kisuke would ask questions of her absence, she pushed Soi farther up the wall, viciously massaging the spot that Soi offered so madly._

"_Y-Yes! Yoruichi… yes." Yoruichi smirked, a single tooth peek out from her pearly grin, but she still wasn't satisfied._

"_What was that? Are you sure we are talking about the same thing?" She pushed two fingers harder on Soi's pulsating organ._

"_I'm your bee… Always, Yoruichi… always." What Soi said—thought did she pay much mind to it then—had sentenced her to a life of dedication and perseverance to Yoruichi. Soi couldn't back out of this—_thing —_that they had created together just as easily it had started. She had torn through the relationship with such intensity and such trust that—despite the overused cliché—she had truly fallen blind and deaf to all of her instincts._

It was a habit that Soi soon found was nearly impossible to break. It was Yoruichi. She was her drug, every minute spent with her was an hour high, every touch was another fix, and every word just fueled the need, the desire. Now, if Soi was to walk out of Yoruichi's life for her benefit—or vise versa—she was certain she would go through withdraws. She had experienced the affects of Yoruichi's absence before and like hell was she willing to go through that again.

"Mmm… Soi? Soi-bee… what's wrong?" Yoruichi stirred from her deep sleep to find her cheek wet with tears—Soi's tears. "Soi, baby. Soi!" She finally jerked Soi out of her slumber, the startled girl confused by the urgency of her lover.

"W-what's wrong, Y-Yoruichi?" Soi asked, finding it strange, the tremor in her voice. Yoruichi grinned pathetically, upset at the dreams Soi had been having, and even more troubled by the fact that it might have left her at fault. She shifted from her position in the midst of Soi's warm and tender embrace—one that she had found no other could compare to—to press her lips lightly to her treasured lover's pale forehead, letting her lips flutter there as she spoke.

"I love you, little bee. I've always loved you…and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon." She pulled the delirious woman into her arms, cradling her head to her chest, and wrapping her lengthy legs around Soi's. Eventually, the young one relaxed into the welcoming hold, encircling the older woman's waist and pulling it close to her. "I won't ever leave you, bee. I couldn't. I love you so much."

It wasn't often that Yoruichi expressed her feeling like that or ever had her light and playful tone turn grave and serious. When it did, it was nothing by the truth. Soi curled into the heat Yoruichi provided, waiting for her cell phone to ring, waiting for her to glance over at the alarm clock, waiting for a bird to drop in through the window and pluck Yoruichi from her clutches—_anything_—because something always interrupted times like these. These times that came few and far between where Soi was filled, top-filled with pure bliss in the presence of the only person that seemed to love her. And even if Yoruichi hadn't been by her side every second of every day, waiting to pick Soi up when she fell, Soi felt bound to Yoruichi.

_Destiny_, she concluded. It must have been destiny that bound them together, that made them inseparable.

Just when Soi felt her eyelids grow heavy and begin to fall while she listened to the steady hum—almost like a purr—that omitted from the dark goddess, the most awful and terrifying song burst through the silence

_Salt! Sweat! Sugar on the asphalt! Our heart littering the topsoil! Tune in! And we can get the last call!_

_**A/n: OK maybe i lied when i said that that last one was going to be my longest chapter... -looks up- chya this was a little longer. Well... I am officially loosing confidence in this story. The updates might slowm down if they havn't already. Its coming close to the end of the semester and im loosing my friggin mind. well... hopefull there will be a chapter six.**_

_**only time can tell. Thanks for reading people. much love**_

**~From the Jungle Gym**


	6. The End

The End

Soi gazed in the mirror at her drooping eyes, her disheveled hair, and the grimace that had been on her face since Yoruichi had last kissed her, fleeing back to the thick arms of her precious Urahara. She poked at her nearly flat chest wondering how much she would miss them. She peered down at her tattered sketch book, examining her most recent addition. It was Soi; her chest bulky and as hard as stone, her thin arms twice their size, and her slim hourglass figure in a straight "V" shape. Would she love her more if she was like this?

_Would Yoruichi come fleeing into my arms if they were hard and hairy like his? _Soi asked herself. _Would she so readily rest her head on my chest if it were squared and toned as his was?_

"You know… I don't think that would be a good look for you. You are more of a prince, less of a goon that lurks under a bridge." When Koji's words reached her ears, she stiffened, still unused to the way he would freely walk straight into her room, unannounced. They had been roommates for years, after Yoruichi had left her. Well… she never really had Yoruichi in the first place, eh? But even then, when Soi would lure strange (and strikingly similar to her goddess) woman to her bed, Koji would prance in, constantly unannounced, parading around the room as if he were a chicken with his head cut off: crying and wailing about a lost love. This, of course, would send the over-stayed visitor fleeing for her life in the other direction; a reaction that Soi took much pride in. Koji really did take care of her.

The only thing she could never get used to was the lack of clothes that he always boar whenever he let himself in. And, to make it worse, he wasn't much of a fan of boxers or even briefs for that matter. No. He simply _loooved_ the man thong.

"Step off, Ko. It's just a drawing. It's not like I want to be a…_guy_ or anything." She spat the word as if it were a piece of trash that needed to be ridden of her mouth.

"Hey, hey, girly. Don't take that tone of voice with me. Remember now, I'm part of that gender. Besides, not _all _men are Kisuke you know. Hey he called here last night. He sounds really nice. I really think that you—"

He was cut off by a pair of flaming grey eyes burning into his, striking his soul., robbing him of any ability to move or even breathe. Accompanying the menacing stare was a pair of impossibly strong arms, one propped against the wall, the other underneath his chin, holding the words still in his throat.

"Don't. Say. His. Name." She released him, but not from her stare. Fear filled him, an emotion he had never felt because of the frail woman in front of him, for the whole decade that he had known her. He had never seen this side of her. Was this really what Yoruichi could do to a person she supposedly loved, just by her actions, by her words? Could it have been possible after years under those extremely intense and cruel conditions of neglect and emotional abuse turned the frail, beautiful, and loving Soi into a terrorizing monster filled with hate and ire? It must have been because this was not the Soi that Koji had fallen in love with as a friend; this wasn't the person that he had confided nearly everything in.

Soi turned away, throwing herself on the bed violently, her loose hair dragging beneath her as she pushed herself against the wall. Koji stood there, somewhat proud of his surrogate sister. Though she had frightened him at first, it was the first time he had ever seen Soi blow up and completely loose control—or rather—gain it. Over the years she had _plenty _of reasons to, but she had held back.

"I'm kinda pleased by that, you know?" Koji said as he reclined on the bed across her outspread legs.

"Perv." Soi whispered, her eyes sliding shut. She had obviously taken way too much abuse over the years. It was beginning to take a toll on her.

"No. I'm serious. Through that whole ordeal with Yoru-chan and shit, you never exploded. Never. You never told her how you felt about…._him_. Hell you never really told her how you felt about her. My little Soi-chan's growing up… and growing some balls. _Finally_!" Soi laughed, though she had tried to suppress it.

"You know if she doesn't know by now I think I'm… doing something… wrong…" Soi winced at those familiar words. Had Yoruichi ever said the truth to Soi before; honestly? The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. She had used sensitive issues at topics to turn and twist Soi to bend to her will, but was the words and the meanings and feelings behind them…_real_?

"Know what?" Koji asked. He wasn't stupid, but she had never said it out loud either. He knew she was probably making the biggest mistake of her life, but if she had cause, he would let her go down the path of destruction freely, knowing that she is experiencing some sort of happiness. After all, she did deserve it now.

"God damn it, Koji!" She leapt from the bed, eyes pleading. "Don't you know? I would give my life for her; happily slit my throat and choke on my own blood if it would make her smile. I'm glad she has Kisuke. I wish it would have been me, but I'm fucking glad! She has someone to make her happy. Someone to hold her at night and to tell her everything's going to be okay. She has someone to wipe away tears and drown out the sound of the surrounding world. She has someone to make the scars not hurt…" She wrapped her arms around herself, leaning against the wall, sliding her eyes shut to restrain the thick tear building in her steel eyes.

"Scars…? Soi, don't you think that sounds more like you than it does her?" He asked, slowly approaching her, still cautious of the fire that smoldered just under her thin flesh. "You're the one with the scars aren't you?" Koji tilted towards her, his fingers ready to life the front of her baggy shirt, but was stopped short. She had jumped—literally jumped from one side of the room to the other, away from Koji. Her grey eyes were cloudy from recently shed tears, but they didn't burn with hate like Koji thought they would. No—they were filled with panic and alarm.

Koji felt sorry for her. She was so strong, so confused, so lost. But still, through all of her struggle and past all of the obstacles, she remained weak. That one flaw constantly holding her back from her dreams, from what she deserves, from what she is entitled.

"Don't…Koji… don't." Her arms trembled at her sides as she tried to straighten her spine. He tried not to take into account how absolutely miserable she looked; that would just make what he was about to tell her that much harder.

"He knows about you." He whispered, rising from his position on the bed, running his thumb across the edge of her shoulder. He took comfort in the fact that she didn't shy away from him. He was too much of a brother to her for him too get the cold shoulder too. It might have torn him apart more than the sight was so far.

"What?" Her head snapped up. Had she just destroyed Yoruichi's life? Had she just destroyed the love that she worked so hard to build with Urahara? But she hadn't seen him in over six years. How…

"I can hear the gears in your head buzzing. Stop thinking, Soi." Koji rested a hand on either side of her head, trying to hold the turning gears still so she wouldn't jump to any conclusions. "Apparently, Yoruichi doesn't like to shut up that often. And the topic is almost always you. He wants to meet you. He said something like he feels detached from Yoru-chan and connecting with her life outside of his might be the key to 'saving their relationship' I guess." Koji didn't want to see Soi go through this. He hated seeing her hurt and he hated Yoruichi a hundred times more for being the one that hurt her.

She slowly nodded her head, not resisting when Koji pulled her into his chest, stroking her loose hair. "I gotta do this, don't I Ko?" She choked out.

"Yeah, doll. You gotta do this. You gotta do this if you don't want…_him_ to find you out." She straightened up out of his hold, wiping away the tears and sloppily fixing her braids.

"I'm gonna go for a walk. Don't wait up." Koji nodded and waited for his apartment door to slam shut. Glancing at the clock, he noted the time knowing that it would be the first time of many. Whenever Soi claimed to "don't wait up", the result was never a happy one Soi simply had no where else to go.

--------x--------

"Mm… Not now Kisuke, I'm tired." Yoruichi pushed her politically correct lover back, rejecting the warmth that he offered. She loved him, but he wasn't the body that she wanted to feel at the moment. Actually, she had half a mind to walk out of their shared apartment and rush into the familiar arms that promised her undying pleasure. Yoruichi tried so hard to be strong for the both of them, to persevere through the hell and the separation, nearly a world that separated the two for days, weeks even. But sometimes it still wouldn't be enough. If Soi wasn't a physical part of her, easily accessed any time of any day, then it would finally be sufficient but until then…

"Hmph." He pouted playfully in the corner, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "You know you're always tired whenever you come back from Soi-chan's." Her admirer teased lightly.

"And your point is?" The tan goddess suppressed her knowing smile, finding humor in just how little Kisuke seemed to know. He had not sensed anything, his trust in Yoruichi never wavering, thinking that she was the most loyal and kind hearted person that he had ever laid eyes on. She tossed her dirty dishes into the sink, not caring if they stayed there for weeks on end, just knowing that her delicate hands would not be soiled by dishwater.

"No point. Just… my curiosity running wild." He hooked a finger past Yoruichi's belt, tugging her to him. She came willingly, knowing that she couldn't resist him for long: so why try?

"You better put a leash on that thing soon, Kisuke…" She pressed her body against him, making sure that he was able to feel every inch of her before teasing his dirty blond locks between her fingers. "It's gotten you into trouble before, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But the punishment I receive for it…" He paused to press his lips gently to hers. "…I will gladly take _any_ day." His calloused hands slid over the muscled back, caressing her ass cheeks, dipping down occasionally to tease that spot that he knew so well.

"Is that all that's ever on your mind, Kisuke? Sex?" She smiled against his lips, pushing herself deeper into his knowing hands. At the comment, he pulled back from her, hands in the air, pleading innocence.

"Really, babe, really? You dry hump me in the middle of our kitchen with barely any clothes on and get offended when your intentions are fulfilled?" Offended, she poked her lip out to the point where he was afraid it would fall to the floor. She pricked at the clothes that wrapped her body so intimately. She bore the small green tank top and boxer briefs, the same tank that she had dawned that fateful night that determined the future of her and Soi's existence with each other.

"_Salt! Sweat! Sugar on the asphalt! Our hearts are littering the topsoil!_ _Tune in and we can get the last call! Our lives are cold! Salt! Sweat!..."_

"Go to sleep, Kisuke. I'll—"

"Meet you there. Yeah. Yeah. Tell Soi-chan I said 'Hi'." He called making his way to the back room. When she was finally alone, she picked up her phone and dialed the last missed call.

Missed Call:.

The Hive

01:13 pm

Dec. 12, 09

"Hmm… She doesn't ever call me from her house phone, though. Maybe hers is dead.", She rationalized to the ring coming from her cell's speaker. Finally the reciver clicked, but there was only silence.

"Well, Bee I had no idea you would be calling me back this soon. You usua— Wha—Ko… Calm down. I cant understand you… What do you mean she hasn't been there all night? When did she leave?!" The somewhat obnoxious phone calls that Yoruichi always seems to get in the middle of the night never really raised any concern with Kisuke, not even when she would walk all the way to the other room just to answer it, but he had never heard her scream like that. Something had to be wrong.

"What the fuck, Koji! Did you call the police...? No. No. You start there… I'll start at the Toy Box and work my way to you."

He found her hunched over the desk in his den, the papers from his office scattered about her, her arms shaking as they supported her slowly weakening body and her knuckles going white around the handle of the phone. He almost expected the plastic to shatter in her threatening clutch.

"Yes. I'm calling to file a missing person's report…Five or six hours… Yes, bu—…This is nothing like her1 Why wont you help me?... But she might be dead by then… Fuck you, you worthless piece of shit! You better pray that she's alright or I'm ripping your fucking throat out, you understand me?"

"Yoru—ugh!" Kisuke was slung like a rag doll, tossed meaninglessly against the walls as Yoruichi fled from, crystalline tears falling in her wake. "W-Whats wrong?"

"Soi-chan!" Her strangled scream froze him where he stood. He had never heard this much desperation in his lovers voice, not when she lost her sisters, her parents, but now… there seemed to be no stronger pain that the strong girl had felt before. He was snapped back to reality once the apartment door slammed shut, leaving him to fester and worry will only his curiosity. Still confused and concerned from the woman he had fell so much in love with he picked up the phone and dialed the number that took no time to memorize.

"_Salt! Sweat! Sugar on the asphault!"_

"Damn it, Yoru-chan…" He sighed, defeated and helpless. "Stay safe, love…"

--------x--------

Soi kicked the stone in front of her, watching it tumble and turn, collecting dust and dirt, taking on whatever anyone pleases to kick on it or toss it. The rock didn't have a say in how much shit he could be rolled through or how many people he would have stepping on his face and kicking him hard in the ribs. He just sat there and took it like society expected him to. There wasn't anyway that the rock could change its niche in the community. Its destiny was already set in place, merely waiting to be played out.

"I know how you feel, buddy." Soi tenderly lifted the stone in her fingers, turning it over again and again, admiring the shine it gave off even though it was coated with grime. It was flat, round, jagged edges sticking every this way and that, beautiful in Soi's eyes, hideous in another's. Just as Soi was. To anybody else she might seem plain, ordinary... and a little insane talking to a rock, but, always and forever, there would be one woman who would always make her feel beautiful, always make her feel wanted. Too bad she wouldn't hear from her in a week... maybe even a month or so.

Soi's body felt heavy, as if her soul was stuck beneath a tan ton weight, crushed and restrained. Her stomach felt sick and the ground wouldn't stop moving below until, finally, she made contact with it. She was aware that she did not have near the amount of energy to flip herself over and off of the cold ground that stuck to her skin. It almost seemed as if she tried to move, it would rip her flesh from her bones.

_Why didn't I …grab a… a jacket…_

Her thoughts seemed to be slurred; cloudy and it hurt her whenever she tried to focus. Tears fell from the clouds above her, pounding into Soi's defeated body, bruising and marring the flesh that they slapped with more and more force than before. Her body began to shake so violently that her bobbing vision began to blur. It felt as if her sideways world was coming to an end, but all her mind fell on was the familiar face of the one who had her heart under lock and key.

Under the usual circumstances, her heart would have welled and leapt from her body, eager to cling to the soul that it had formed with, grown to. But now, her heart struggled to beat hard enough to get blood to her toes. Her toes… she couldn't feel them anymore, did she even have them? In one last attempt to see the outside world, curious to what her last thought would be, see same only the object of her affection: a dark skinned woman, arms wide and smile warming.

_If I were to die right now_, Soi thought to herself, _I would be happy spending the dark eternity with this memory_.

It almost seemed as if the same face was rushing towards her, calling her name, but, for once, she couldn't find the excitement within her. She simply—didn't care. Her eyes were getting too heavy; her thoughts too long; her breaths were too short. She heard the out of place voice scream at her once again before she finally gave in.

_Eternity, here I come!_

The lights went out, her world went dark, and her soul slowly died away.

**A/N: Well... that's it. That's my story. Liked it? I did! Well see you next story folks**

**Ow! Ok who threw the book. Really mature. Fine Fine ill write more. Just a warning. It only gets worse from here. I hate happy endings, y'... see you next chapter. it should be up before the year is done and over with ;)**

**And as for that last chapter. Italics will always be flashbacks. I had put a title in there, i guess when i tranferred it, it was deleted or something. Idk. but sorry for the confusion. But no. That really happened six years ago when they first started the endless black hole thats eating SOi alive. lol ok. THANK YOU FOR READING. you are all so awesome**


	7. The Runion

The Reunion

"Tears that she had not planned on shedding rolled over her cheeks, staining her chest and the black dressed she dawned. Below her, she cradled her face of her cold beloved, still and unmoving. Why had she been taken from her? Did she really deserve to suffer like she did? Had Yoruichi not sad 'I love you' enough? Had she not held her the right way or for the right amount of time?

'Soi-chan…. Soi-chan… I still love you. I still love you Soi-chan...' Yoruichi straightened the black suit Soi was decorated in, handsome and sleeping, only… it was a slumber she would never wake up from again. Yoruichi threw herself to her former lover's chest, gripping the flesh that he had not had enough of. It wasn't until strong hands braced her shoulders, slowly teasing her away from the stoic body.

'No! One more time. I need to kiss her one more time. I need to hold her!' She screamed into the broad chest she was supported against Broad arms held her close, comforting her. The man that they belonged to knew that there was nothing to say, there was nothing to do to make the tears stop flowing. She might cry herself dry before the pain became any easier to deal with. She had a bond with the frail woman in that box that would have outlasted eternity. It would have outlasted the love that the living two had between them.

'You will always want one more. You will always wan more time. We need to let her rest, love.' Gently, have stroked her hair back, avoiding the black butterfly clips that bound the loose strands of violet together. 'You're gonna be okay.' He promised this with no sincerity. How could he know? For as long as he had known Yoruichi, for as long he had loved her, he never knew her to live without Soi. It would be remarkable if Yoruichi could make it through a week with only a memory to sustain her. It made him wonder just how strong the connection between them were and how it had gotten that way.

'No!' She struggled against him, trying hard to push him away, to escape to her little bee. She needed to caress her cod skin, to rock her back to life. Yoruichi's blood wouldn't be able to circulate, her lungs not able to function if Soi could be there with her. She need her scent on her skin, her hair spread across pillows, she needed to hear her voice call out to her; to say those words that she had refused to speak for years now. She needed the love of her life.

'How could I have been so stupid, Soi? Why didn't I love you like I should have? Why didn't you let me love you? Soi… Soi! Don't leave me Soi! Come back! Come back…' She cried her last please into the chest of the man that could never understand the love she felt for Soi. But that love had died, unrequited and unfulfilled. Suddenly, it became difficult to breath, difficult to see. She couldn't stand anymore, she couldn't feel anymore. Why darkness finally came, she cursed the sky knowing that she would wake up at any second, alive and breathing… without her Bee."

"Yoruichi? Baby, get up, you got to get food in you…" Yoruichi stirred against the pure white sheets, her face imprinted with the dull pattern for staying there for hours on end. Suddenly all the memories rushed back from the inside of the ambulance, the tube that was shoved down Soi's throat, the needles pricking her skin, the way she lied lifeless and cold in the strange box, not responding to Yoruichi's touch, to her words. Tears pricked her eyes, blinding her before they fell to the bed that she was bent over.

"I'm not hungry… Kisuke…. I can't eat." She lay back down, refusing to look anywhere other than the backs of her lids, wishing that darkness would come as soon as possible. She didn't want to dream for she would be tormented by her lover's face, knowing her eyes would grace those handsome features again; she just wanted to sleep, beside her Soi-chan until she could touch her again, until she could feel her once more; the way she was used to, the way that she craved.

"Come on, doll. She'll be here when you make up. I doubt she's going to be running off anywhere." Yoruichi's head shot up, suddenly realizing where she was, She was surrounded, suffocated by the sterile room, the pure white walls hurting her adjusting eyes, the painfully clean smell that promised either death or pain, and the slumped figure whose chest Yoruichi was curled against.

"Soi!" Water fell from her eyes with no restraint. She wailed and cried out, so very grateful to have the warm body in her arms once more; the scent of her Bee filled her nose, surrounding her, saving her. "Soi-chan… Oh, Soi-bee…I'm so sorry. I'll never do this to you again. Soi… Soi…" Yoruichi didn't want to question why she was still here still breathing; if she did she might be taken away again.

"Y-Yoru-chan…?" Kisuke mumbled, completely confused. She had not broken down like that… ever. He realized the link between them was unbreakable, but it made him speculate the reaction she would have if he up and disappeared or was in peril much like her former roommate.

"Hey people! Well let's see how that girlie is doing eh?" An overly cheerful blond orderly skipped happily into the room. She seemed all too comfortable with the feeling of sorrow, anger, and frustration drenching a room that she had lost the ability for appropriateness. Slowly, the blond reached over to Soi, attempting to check her pulse and her temperature, but her arm was caught just short of the pale skin.

"What's. Happening. To. Her?" Yoruichi slowly and deliberately spoke the words, trying to make it as easy as possible for the woman to understand.

Unfazed, the nurse responded, "Well, Miss Shihouin." Yoruichi hissed at the long forgotten name. "She seems to have suffered a mild case of hypothermia. Your friend here says that he found you two curled up together. Was she unconscious when you arrived?" Yoruichi nodded, not wanting to hear the final prognoses. "Well she hasn't woken up since then."

"What?" Yoruichi flew to her feet, crouching over Soi almost as if she were ready to leap at any offender and readily rip out their throat to protect her slumbering lover. "She's…. She's not going to wake up." Tears fell freely from the goddess' eyes. The overwhelming amount of desperation that seeped from the shaken woman slowly loosing control startled the nurse, making her happy exterior shift into a gentler and more understanding human, rather than just a messenger with a death sentence. "Soi… She won't…" She slowly slid to her knees, collapsing over Soi, cradling her lifeless torso to her chest, desperately wishing for a miracle, for a mistake, for the devil to come from his fiery home to buy Yoruichi's soul in exchange for Soi's—_anything_.

"It might take a while… Her body is exhausted, it needs time to recuperate. When you found her, her body had basically shut down. If you wouldn't have found her when you did, I might not be here to tell you this much." She laid a gentle hand on Yoruichi's convulsing back. "Don't worry. She's not in a coma, but she is unconscious. And she will more than likely be there for the next day or two. And…I'll look the other way tonight. You can stay, but only one of you." The news did not comfort Yoruichi. The bitch said nothing about when she woke up, what would happen if something happened to Soi in her sleep, what the fears were. The only way Yoruichi would believe anything that came out of those hypocritical monster's mouths was if Soi was alive and responsive in her arms, holding her back, kissing her back, loving her…

She felt Kisuke shift uneasily behind, but now, she could really care less. It wasn't until he took hold of her shoulders, pulling her away from the bed, away from the love of her life, so she could peer into those calming dark orbs that she had taken comfort in so many times before. She collapsed onto him, reveling in the way his strong arms wrapped around her frail body, supporting it, protecting it.

"Excuse me..." A lengthy and somewhat frightening man staggered in, head bowed and cheeks flushed "I do apologize ma'am, but I have been looking for Soi Fon for quiet sometime. Do you think you could direct me to her room?" When he picked up his head for conformation, he looked as if he belonged on a bed next to Soi's. His light grey eyes dilated, his shaggy black hair stood on end, and his strong arms braced his weakening body against the door frame. Immediately he dropped to his knee, flattening a single curled fist to the floor. "Miss Shihouin!"

"A-Aki…?" Yoruichi sniffled. The only contact that she had ever had with the man was whenever she had tried to escape his clutches and his watchful eye to actually have a life outside of the Shihouin world. She always failed though. Whenever she thought she was out and finally alone, trouble would always attract to her like a magnate, and here he would be to save the day. He slowly rose from his respective position, twisting the jacket he held in his sweaty hands.

"Yes ma'am. I was told my daughter had been admitted here." It wasn't surprising that Soi was his daughter. She looked almost exactly like him. The same gentle eyes, the same graceful motions, the same shy exterior, but if you were to come near the one person they were meant to protect, the person they loved, their wrath would have no end.

"Aki…" Yoruichi slowly pulled out of her pacifier's hold and stepped up to her former protect, her long legs only needing to take a few strides to reach him. She gently stroked the sides of his chiseled face, sliding her fingers into the deep worry lines that mostly Yoruichi had caused. "Is it really you?" This man had been like a father to her, her only father. He had taught her right from wrong, truth from lie, and the souls from the soulless. She owed this man so much but she had never had imagined there reunion would have been like this…

Yoruichi took hold of his large hand, leading him towards the other end of the room. His thick brows were furrowed in worry and confusion, but still he gripped his princess' hand securely. She gripped the sheet that sheathed the face of the person in question. Yoruichi's grip on Aki grew tighter, more secure when the pale, blue-lipped, corpse-like girl was exposed to him. His daughter, or what was left of her, was cold and unresponsive, but beautiful; a Chinese porcelain doll. She seemed so peaceful… yet… heartbreaking.

"M-My little warrior… Soi-chan… What has this world done to you…?" Yoruichi guided his hand towards the handle on the side of Soi's bed before stepping back into the shadows, careful of her breathing and the silent sobs that occasionally rocked her body.

- - - - - x - - - - -

"Oh, no, Aki. Don't start with the familiarities like that. You know I really could have cared less about my parents." Yoruichi giggled lightly, stooping over her coffee cup as if it were something stronger.

"I would have never guessed that my little warrior would have run from the Shihouin just to grow to love one. You two are really close aren't you?" Aki was never a man of many words. Yoruichi was shocked when he initiated the conversation, eager to learn of his daughter and her life and how her former master was entangled in it.

"You know… I never knew you had a daughter until she told me six years ago. I guess that's what made you such a good dad to me, huh?" Slowly, a blush swept over his defined cheeks. "So that's where she get is, eh! Why do you call her 'Your little warrior', Aki?" Trying to avoid any and all conversation about her relationship with her slumbering beloved merely feet away from the two. Aki's fingers were too bust entwining a single braid between his thick fingers to realize that Yoruichi's thumb was discreetly stroking Soi's thigh through the rough blanket Her hands, nor eyes ever left her little bee, it was the same for Aki's little warrior, they seemed to be afraid that if—even once—they lifted their attentions from her, she might disappear into nothingness.

"Well, Princess," Yoruichi smiled at her old nickname, finally feeling the weak tension between them drop and the father-daughter like atmosphere between them return. "that is a story that I have yet to tell you." He shifted in her chair, crossing his ankle over his knee and entwining his fingers, keeping Soi in the corner of his eye.

"You were always the story teller, Aki. I gotta say I kinda miss 'em" She could picture herself, just three feet tall, balancing herself on his lap in the middle of the night, tears staining her cheeks from the most recent nightmare. He was always the shoulder she could cry on, the arms that would comfort her.

"Believe this if you want, but I wasn't the one always fishing you out of trouble." He mused as Yoruichi's delicate brow furrowed in confusion. "Soi… is not my daughter, unfortunately." Aki let one hand wander onto the bed to rub Soi's shoulder as if claiming her. "But I am the only one that she has ever known. She was orphaned as a small child by my brother, I doubt that she has any memories from that time, but when I found her on a bench by the subway when I was tailing him, I took her in as my own and never looked back. He knew he was in trouble, but he wouldn't tell me what. The next day he was dead and I was the only family Soi had left. _Very _early on, she proved to be a unique and special child. I had never seen such coordination or… ambition as I did with this child. One time even I came home to find her surrounded by my knives! But when I got closer, I realized that she was cleaning them. Latter on I found an apple outside with a single knife mark in it. Her aim even impressed me." Aki chuckled at the memory, but soon his face grew stern and serious, as if in deep contemplation.

"Then she caught sight of you for the first time. And, if I can speak freely, I could have sworn she had fallen in love. Every day I got home the questions would never stop. She had every picture from the newspapers and magazines that had a glimpse of your face. She often spoke your name in her dreams. I guess you can say you became the sister she never had." Yoruichi blushed at the thought of Soi as her sister. Of course then the fun would have to stop, but she hadn't realized that Soi's admiration had ever ran that deep. How long had Soi been that close to her?

"But I finally broke down and for her eleventh birthday, I brought her along with me to watch over you. And she proved to have learned a great deal from her. She never let you see her, she never got too close to raise any sort of suspicion, and through a few minor misshapes… she became a pro. Princess, from the time you were fifteen to the time you ran out of the tradition of hatred your family upheld, Soi was protecting you, guarding you. I guess you could say I had found a replacement.

"You know she was devastated when you left: in tears nearly every night. Another year and she got a scholar ship. It was quiet a shock to her when she found she went to the same school as you, much less the same room. Princess… Yoruichi-sama?" Aki ran the rough pad of his thumb through the stream of steady tears that decorated Yoruichi's cheeks. She hadn't completely understood the love that Soi held for her and the absurd amount of devotion that she constantly poured over her…until now. Soi had been with her every step of the way. Soi had loved her, had defended and cared for her, even if at a distance, since before Yoruichi had ever laid eyes on the sallow child.

And all that Yoruichi gave her in return was a few one night stands and quick caress or two before she ran off into the arms of someone it was safe to love. Someone she could love with years and years of tradition and normality; that would raise little to no suspicion of passersby. She loved Kisuke because he was always there, he never left; not, unlike everyone else in her life. Had Yoruichi confused friendship and security for love and mutual physical attraction? If that was so, then what was it that she felt for Soi? Wasn't she just grateful to have someone love her with every fiber of her being, much like Soi did, without any expectations or string attached?

"Well… visiting hours are over you two!" The cheerful voice that screeched behind the reunited couple made Yoruichi's teeth click and grind. "Ok, girlie. You're the only one that can stay remember?" Aki rose in acknowledgment, always used to be the last one in line. He bowed deeply to Yoruichi before speaking.

"It will always be a pleasure, Princess. Please take good care of her for me. Y'know you kind of owe her." He winked a solid grey eye at her before turning to leave, but was cut short when a firm hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him back. Aki let the weak body crash against him as he stroked the violet hair that clung to wet cheeks. "There there, Princess. I'll be here at daybreak."

"No…" She mumbled into his dark red sweater. "You are her father. She hasn't seen you in years. She see's my ugly mug nearly twenty four hours a day. Please be here when she wakes up. She needs you Aki…. She…."

"It sounds like you need me too, eh?" His rich and deep chuckled filled the room. Aki's voice always had a way of warming a person to their soul just by saying 'Hello'. Yoruichi nodded helplessly into his chest. "Don't worry kid. I'm not going anywhere. Neither is she, alright. After all… she _is_ my little warrior after all, eh?" Yoruichi nodded again, reveling in the way it felt to have a father back in her life, someone to love her unconditionally; someone that will always be proud of her no matter how disrespectful she may become. Just when she was about to pull away, he held her tighter.

"Thank you for loving her back. You don't know what you mean to her."

Yoruichi didn't return home that night, but she didn't have anywhere else to go. She merely sat on the park bench she had found Soi near, pondering the last words Aki said to her. It was true the old man was wise past his years, but just how much did he know?

- - - - - x - - - - -

"Yoruichi! I'm sorry! Please don't hate me! Don't hate me!" Soi cried out, crumpled on the floor as if she were a piece of garbage that Yoruichi was done with. "You dais you loved me! You liar!"

"Yep. You're right. Imma liar, goddamnit! Now get off your pathetic ass and get out of my fucking sight. Why would I ever go for someone as plain and as boring as you? You stalked me since I was a child. How was I supposed to feel when you told me? You're worthless. You're pathetic. You disgust me." Yoruichi turned, her violet hair flying about her as she became a retreating figure in Soi's memory.

"No, Yoruichi! Please don't go… they all go, please don't go… please don't go…." Soi gripped at the burning pain in her chest, the sharp pang in her heart. She felt as if her whole torso would burst through her, depleting her, destroying her. How could Yoruichi leave her, after all this time… after all they had done for one another….ahs was just going to… leave? Just like _that_? How was that even possible? Had everything over the past six years meant nothing?

"Get out! I'm done with you!"

"No… No Youruihci-sama… no no no… Please I need you. Nooo…." Soi curled into a tight ball, trying to make herself disappear. Without her goddess, life wasn't worth living. Good thing she didn't have much more time.

"Soi… Soi wake up. Soi you're okay. Yoruichi's on her way, don't worry. You're safe now." Soi's eyes shot open, unused to the deep voice that soothed her fears, but recalling vividly who it belonged to.

"F-f…" Her eyes adjusted to the harsh lighting enough to make out the tall shadowed figure that loomed over her. "Father!" She shot up from her bed, arms tightly latching around the elder's back. The reunion brought on another onset of tears, staining the man's sweater as he patiently consoled her, easing back onto her bed. Once she had finally calmed down, he reached for her hand, slowly running the pad of his thumb over it.

"I thought I told you to keep your nose clean, kiddo…" He bent over to lightly kiss her hand, but Soi knew better. She could feel the cold tears sprinkle her skin.

"I have father…"

"No you haven't. You almost lost it for Christ's sake! Just don't… scare me like that, okay? This old heart cant take much…" He punched his chest for emphasis and Soi laughed. It had been forever and a day since she had laid eyes on the most trusted being on the planet. Suddenly it hit here… he was _here_…

"Father! The Shihouins'!" His ears perked and his bushy brow furrowed. Soi remember at a time where she would only reach up to his knee—not that she was much taller now—she would try to smooth the worry lines out with her fingers. Now, she barely had enough energy to stand up to hug him, and that depleted her supply of stored up vigor.

"What… Yoruichi didn't tell you?" Soi shook her head, exhausted by the motions. She felt her eyelids flutter, but her mind couldn't really catch up with the action. "Soi… Yoruichi is the last living Shihouin… They were all murdered"

**A/N: well... i didnt really like this chapter. the last part was kinda thrown together anyway. Dont worry. ill probably rewrite this whole story in a years time. well review if you would like... kinda dissapointing update tho...**


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